Just A Moment Or Two
by vmars15
Summary: Unseen moments between Puck and Quinn throughout the back nine and season two.  Multi-chapter story.  Because no one has seen their story, and the way it's going with the actual writers of the show it seems no one will ever know.
1. Moving Day

She had been living at his house for a couple of days. It was awkward. They were sixteen and in a huge mess. He wanted to make everything right between them, but she had made it clear that he wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to do everything on her own. He wasn't going to be in the picture even though he had told her he wanted to be from the very beginning. He had been shocked when she had come knocking on his door that night. They had parted from the Sectional's competition with her telling him she had found a place to stay. He figured she was going to live with Santana or another Cheerio. That didn't end up happening.

He had been in his room playing the guitar. He was strumming the same three chords really when he heard a knock on the door. It was almost ten thirty at night so it wasn't like the Puckerman family were expecting any visitors. Puck's sister, Hannah, was already sleeping and his mom was in her bedroom reading a book or doing one of her crossword puzzles. She yelled at him from the next room, "Noah, get that will you?"

He wasn't in any mood to be getting up from anywhere. He had lost his best friend that day and his only shining light was that Quinn might want him now. Nope, she didn't. He wasn't that special. That baby was never going to be his. She had made it perfectly clear earlier that day. Puck didn't want to wake his sister though, as he feared his mom had, so he walked into her room. "Why can't you?"

She looked up at him from her book. She was laying in bed. "And what if it's some rapist or freak Noah? He'll snap my neck in a second. You're the man of the house, aren't you?"

Puck sighed. He didn't want to be. He was too young to be the man of anything. He was also too young to be having a daughter but that was happening. There was another knock at the door and Mrs. Puckerman gave her son a dirty look that signalled he should answer it immediately. "It's probably for you anyways," She stated, "That Mexican girl. Just keep it down and have her out of here by the morning."

Puck was about to tell his mother that Santana was Puerto Rican and not Mexican but decided against it. There was no point. He made his way downstairs reluctantly and opened the door. To his surprise it wasn't some creep, or Santana, or another girl that wanted to hook up, or even some door to door salesman. It was a blonde girl. A pregnant blonde girl. A pregnant blonde girl who by the looks of it had been crying recently.

Puck was too surprised to say anything. He was fully expecting Quinn to ignore him for the rest of her life.

She spoke when she realized he wasn't going to invite her in immediately. "I don't have anywhere else to go."

Puck shook his head. "You said-"

"I know," She interrupted, "I thought my sister would take me in but she said she didn't want to take any sides until she talked to my parents."

Puck leaned against the doorway. If he was thinking clearly he would be inviting Quinn in from the cold darkness outside but he was still too shocked to have his head on straight. "She wouldn't even let you stay the night?"

Quinn shook her head. "And then Santana said her parents wouldn't allow it without even asking them. I can't stay at Finn's anymore. Brittany's grandparents are in town for a week so there's no room there right now."

Puck nodded. He understood clearly why Finn wasn't an option but he couldn't believe Santana wouldn't even ask her parents if Quinn could stay with them. Santana's house had plenty of room for her. He thought it might have something to do with jealousy. At least Brittany had a real excuse.

Quinn started to worry after he was still not inviting her inside or even saying anything. "I don't have to stay here if it's a problem. I just thought-"

"No," Puck cut her off, "You can. I'm sorry. Come in. Just be quiet. My sister's asleep but my mom's still awake."

Puck moved sideways to allow Quinn to enter. She only had a purse with her. He closed the door after she entered. She turned around after taking a few steps in not knowing where to go anymore. "Does your mom know?"

Puck shook his head. "Until today it wasn't mine." He hadn't wanted to tell his mother something so drastic that would upset her greatly if he wasn't sure Quinn would ever admit to the truth. He had thought she would end up having the baby, give her up for adoption, and go back to her life before the whole mess, never having to involve the real father in any way.

Quinn nodded her head, reminded once again of her horrible sin. She wanted to start crying again. How could she have made so many mistakes? Why had she been so stupid?

Puck's mind started working clearer and he asked her, "Have you had anything to eat since lunch?"

Quinn shook her head. "I was busy trying to find somewhere to sleep." She placed her hands on her stomach, and rubbed it as if the hunger was paining her.

"You're hungry," He noted, "Which means she's hungry too. Come, I'll get you something to eat."

Quinn followed Puck's lead as he led her straight into the kitchen. It was small, and much dirtier than her kitchen had been at home, but she was in no position to be picky. He opened up the fridge looking for something for her to eat. Quinn shifted back and forth. "It's not like I'm careless with her. I just… I thought it was more important to find a place to stay and go a few hours without food."

"Whatever." He pulled out two tupperware containers. "Some vegetarian lasagna crap or chicken. Take your pick."

Quinn pointed to the chicken, desperate to have some meat. The cravings were particularly strong now. Puck took the container and placed it in the microwave to heat up. He turned around to lean on the counter as it did.

"You can sleep in my room tonight but tomorrow morning don't get out until I wake up okay? And don't make a lot of noise. I'll need to tell my mom about this. Then you can stay here."

Quinn was standing awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, not knowing if she was allowed to sit or to lean against anything. It wasn't very comfortable getting used to a completely new place after finally getting accustomed to the Hudson household. "Will she let me?"

Puck nodded. "Once I tell her about your asshole parents."

Quinn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't like to be reminded of that night her parents had kicked her out. Especially her father yelling at her. Screaming that she was a disappointment. Especially her mother not saying a word. As if she didn't care.

The microwave started beeping and Puck quickly took the food out. He went into one of the drawers, pulled out a fork and knife, and handed it all to Quinn. "Let's go eat in my room. I don't want my mom coming down."

Quinn nodded. She followed Puck back down to the main hallway with the staircase. She was nervous to go to his room. With Finn she had been in his bedroom tons of times and it had seemed natural. Being alone with Puck in his room was a scarier thought. Especially since she remembered their history in bedrooms and knew he did too. He opened the first door and moved to let her in first. She walked in and saw the guitar, the desk with a million papers sprawled on top of it, a laptop, lots of posters of rock stars, and a bed. Quinn didn't know where to move.

"You can sit on my bed," He told her, "Just try not to spill anything. My mom yelled at me for two days straight when I got pasta sauce on my sheets."

Quinn sat down and began digging into the meal. She had been starving for hours. Puck laid on his back on the other side of the bed. She was uncomfortable being so close to him, especially on a bed. She tried to subtly edge nearer to the opposite side. He pretended not to notice. Girls usually weren't so repelled by him. "Do you any stuff?"

Quinn took another bite of chicken and nodded, not looking back at him. "In my car. Finn had put everything in boxes and left it outside for me."

Puck rolled his eyes. "What, so anyone could walk up and steal it? Class act."

Quinn put her fork down and laid a hand on her baby bump. "Don't act like I don't deserve it."

Puck realized it was too soon to start insulting Finn. He probably had to wait for more time to pass. He waited for Quinn to take a few more bites of her meal. "Do you want to borrow something to wear tonight?"

Quinn looked back at him. She didn't look pleased. "What? A G-string one of your sluts forgot to take home?"

Puck didn't know where she got that idea. He shook his head quickly. "I didn't mean that. A T-shirt. Mine will be big on you so you'll be covered."

Quinn sighed and relented. "Okay. Thank you. Oversized T-shirts are really all that fit me right now in pyjamas. Finn obviously didn't include any of his in the boxes."

Puck got up and walked to his dresser. He opened a drawer and pulled out a red shirt that was on top of the pile. He passed it to her and she accepted it. He went back to laying on the bed while she continued eating. She quickly finished and turned around. "Where do I change?" She whispered. She didn't want Puck getting any images of her like _that_ into his brain. Especially if it was seeming they'd be sharing a bed that night instead of him offering to sleep on the couch like Finn had the first night. And the second night. And the third.

Puck shrugged. "If you go to the washroom my mom will hear. She has ears like a bat. So I guess here."

Quinn bit her lip. She was afraid of that. She looked at Puck in the eye so he would know she was serious. "Turn around."

He smirked. She had to be kidding. He knocked her up. He knew what went on underneath the dresses and cardigans. "Nothing I haven't seen-"

"Turn around." She interrupted, speaking more forcefully. He complied and rolled over so he was laying on his stomach. He tried to keep his mind off of what was happening but it was hard. Very hard.

"You can turn over." Quinn said after a moment. Puck did so and was amazed. There she was, like he had always known her, but now she was in _his_ shirt with nothing else on and… well it was hot. She had folded her clothes she had been wearing and placed them on top of the dresser. Man, she might be pregnant but Quinn Fabray still had legs. _Damn_. But then a second thought appeared in his mind. She had alluded to the fact that Finn had seen her like this in his T-Shirt. That brought his testosterone down a tad.

"I'm tired," She announced, "It's been a long day."

Puck hoped she wouldn't bitch about sharing a bed. He sure wasn't going to sit on the couch downstairs that killed his back that one time he had fallen asleep watching Pearl Harbour. He motioned to the side of the bed beside him and separated his two pillows so they had one each. "Then turn off the light and go to bed."

She was obviously not liking the fact that they were going to be sleeping so close together. She didn't one bit. However, Quinn didn't want to put up a fuss. She had been through enough drama throughout the day and the bed situation didn't deem worthy enough to fight over. She walked over to the light switch, turned it off, and shuffled over to the bed. She climbed in and pulled the covers over top of her. Puck went under the covers as well. He laid on his back with his eyes on the ceiling thinking it was his best bet at not getting yelled at. If he turned to her she might scold him for trying to be close. If he turned away she might say he was being too cold to her.

Quinn had turned on her side away from Puck. She didn't want him to get any ideas whatsoever. The blanket smelled like cologne. She recognized it as the one he had been wearing the day they had sex. Quinn figured it must have been what he wore whenever he hooked up with a girl. That made her upset. She wasn't anything special. Not even to him. She was just another girl. She was just another screw up to her parents. She was just another girl who had fallen off the top to all of the students at school. She was nothing. All she had was a baby growing inside of her that she knew she couldn't even keep and a ruined reputation. Now she was in a house she knew was going to make her uncomfortable. She couldn't help it when the tears started pouring down.

He heard her sniffle and knew she was crying. He wanted to turn over and wrap his arms around her to make her feel better. He couldn't. He knew that would definitely get him yelled at. Still, it hurt to know she was crying beside him and there was nothing he could do to make it better. So he did nothing. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep as quickly as possible to avoid hearing anything or thinking anymore.

She woke up first. It was eight o' clock and luckily a Saturday. She had woken up on her back which wasn't a comfortable position. She looked over to Puck. He was still asleep, and sleeping on the side facing her. She didn't want to wake him. She didn't really want to talk to him at all. She had made a big speech about doing things on her own and she couldn't even be independent for a day. It was embarrassing. However, she had to pee. Pregnancy did drastic things to one's bladder.

Quinn lightly shook Puck's shoulder. "Puck," She whispered, "Wake up."

He groaned and shook her hand off of him. She sighed and shook him a little bit harder. "Wake up." She told him a bit harder. He drearily opened up his eyes and saw Quinn looking down upon him as she was sitting up on the bed. "What is it?" He managed to stumble up.

"I have to go to the washroom."

He was still half asleep so he didn't remember certain details. "Then go."

She sighed and shook him again so that he was fully awake. "I don't know where it is, and yesterday you made it pretty clear I wasn't allowed out of this room in case your mom saw me."

He was more awake then and nodded his head. He stood up, in the wife beater and sweat pants he had fallen asleep in and motioned for her to stay in the bed. He opened the door and checked to see if anyone was around. He turned back around. "It's clear. Bathroom is second door across. I'm going to go find my mom."

"And tell her?" Quinn asked nervously. She wished Puck's mom could know her and like her before she got preconceived notions of her. She understood though that she needed to know immediately. Especially if Quinn was going to be living under her roof… hopefully.

"I guess so." He was scared to tell his mom. She already thought he was a disappointment. This news wouldn't help matters any bit.

Quinn walked across the hallway whereas Puck walked down the stairs to find his mother in the kitchen. However he only made it a few steps down the stairs before he saw of feet in front of him. He looked up and saw his mother staring at him, red in the face, clearly angry. "I heard a girl in there. I told you to have her gone last night!"

Puck motioned for his mom to walk down the stairs with him. She was reluctant, still mad, but she did so. When they were in the kitchen, and he had made sure his sister who was in the living room had the volume on the TV loud enough so she couldn't overhear he told his mom, "This girl is different than the others."

Mrs. Puckerman rolled her eyes. "I don't care Noah if she's your girlfriend. You can't have her staying the night while your under my roof."

Puck didn't want to continue on with the conversation. He had to, but this was the point where he was more scared than ever before. He was about to tell his mom devastating news that would reconfirm her beliefs that he was worthless. He was just like his dad. He took a deep breath, looked up from his shoes so he could tell it to his mom's face and said, "I got her pregnant mom."

There. He said it. He couldn't take it back. Now she knew. He knew that she had heard him. Her eyes had grown wide at his revelation. She took a step back from him. He told himself that it was due to the shame.

"No Noah," She told him, "If it was last night you can't know for sure yet. Do you want me to go pick up the morning after pill for her?"

Puck knew his mom was trying to convince herself the news wasn't true. She couldn't possibly think he was making an assertion when he hadn't even seen a pregnancy test. This was desperation. He shook his head and took a step forward, closing in the space that his mother had created previously. "She's four months pregnant mom. And… well she needs to start living here."

Mrs. Puckerman put her hand on her forehead and tried to say something but the words weren't coming out of her mouth. She sat down on a chair and wrapped her head in her hands. She looked up after a moment. "Why? Why does she need to stay here?"

"Her parents kicked her out when they found out and the people she was living with after kicked her out yesterday. She doesn't have anywhere else."

Mrs. Puckerman looked down at the floor. "How could you do this Noah? I've talked to you about this. I've been putting condoms in the bathroom since you were twelve."

Puck shrugged his shoulders. He could see the disappointment in his mother's face. "I didn't think it was going to happen. She called me and thought we were just going to hang out. I'm… I'm sorry mom."

She shook her head and then wiped a tear that was falling down her face. Her son had just told her that he had thrown his life away. It wasn't an easy thing to take in. "Why did those other people kick her out?"

He had hoped she wouldn't ask this. He sure as hell wasn't going to tell his mom that he had hooked up with Finn's girlfriend and then let her lie about it all for months. He tried to think of a better way of putting it quickly. "She… well she told them I was the father and they didn't like that very much."

Mrs. Puckerman looked up to the ceiling and sighed. Even other people realized what a screw up her son was. She wanted to hit something. Him, hitting him would be nice. Or her deadbeat ex husband who could have taught their son a lesson or two if he had bothered to stay around. "Fine," She replied, "She can stay here. But you explain the house rules to her and there will be no more of the trouble that started this mess while she's living under my roof. No sex, or anything like that. You got it?"

Puck nodded. He was about to walk back upstairs when he turned around and asked, "Do you want to meet her?"

"Do I have to?"

Puck looked at her strange. He didn't understand why his mom would think that she didn't need to meet the girl that was going to be living with the family now. He furrowed her eyebrows and she frowned. "Fine. I guess I have to. Bring her down in a half an hour. I have to cry right now."

Puck nodded, knowing that was going to be the best he would get. He wished his mother would be more supportive or understanding of the situation but it wasn't like any of it was surprising him. His mother wasn't ever the most warm or comforting parent. He blamed his dad for that.

When Puck came back upstairs he found Quinn on her cell phone. "Yeah, I found a place to stay." He heard her say. She was sitting on his bed and he stood by the closed door as he waited for her to finish.

"With the father."

She looked at him after she said that. He smiled. At least now she was at least admitting to the fact that he was the kid's dad. Not stupid Finn.

"I don't know."

Another silence.

"I don't know Fiona. He hasn't told me yet."

More silence as Puck twiddled his thumbs. Knowing they were probably talking about him but not knowing what about.

"Well it's better than what you offered. I have to go. He's here."

Puck noticed she was still in his T-shirt. She'd have to change before he took her to meet his mother.

"You can call me if anything changes. Bye."

Quinn pressed the button on her phone to hang up and looked at Puck. "That was my sister."

He nodded. "The one who wouldn't let you stay the night."

Quinn combed through her hair with her fingers. "Yeah, she just wanted to make sure I found somewhere. I told her last night that I was going to end up sleeping in my car in a parking lot."

Puck hated the thought of that. He wanted her to know that she didn't have to succumb to that ever. "My mom said you can stay here. As long as you follow the rules. Like pitching in with doing dishes, laundry, that kind of stuff. And you're not allowed to have girls sleep over."

Quinn rolled her eyes. She didn't respond to that comment. She looked around and then back at Puck. "What now?"

Puck shuffled his feet. "You have to meet her in half an hour. She's upset right now about me being a fucking idiot. You should probably change into regular clothes before that happens."

Quinn nodded and looked out the window. "My stuff is in my car. Can you go get it all for me? I parked on the side of the street."

He shook his head up and down and waited as Quinn fumbled through her purse for the keys to her car. She handed them to him and he went downstairs to go retrieve the boxes. He was quiet. He didn't want his mother to hear him coming down.

He went into her car, which was the same one he remembered her showing off earlier in the school year when her father had bought it for her. He saw four taped up boxes in the back seat. It took him two trips to bring them all up.

When he placed the last two boxes on his bedroom floor she shot her first smile at him in what seemed like forever. "Thank you."

"Whatever." He mumbled and rustled through his closet for something to wear as she dug through the boxes. Once he had found an outfit he started changing in the middle of the room. He wasn't as modest as Quinn was.

She hadn't noticed Puck getting changed so as she asked, "Do you think," She was startled to find him taking his pants off and immediately turned back around, "Are you getting naked?" She shrieked.

He smirked. "Relax, it's nothing you haven't seen before."

"Shut up," She retorted with her back still to him, "I'm going to the washroom to change. Like a _civilized_ person."

Once she had returned she was now in a light pink dress and a chunky white cardigan. Her hair was combed and braided. Her teeth were brushed. Her makeup was on. She was hoping to look innocent to make a good impression on Puck's mom. Quinn didn't want the woman to think she was a slut or this was a consequence of fooling around too much. She needed Mrs. Puckerman to like her.

Quinn closed the door behind her. Puck was laying on his bed, texting on his cell phone. When he looked up he muttered, "I'm not sexting."

She shrugged her shoulders and asked where she could start putting her clothes and other things. Puck told her where to find room and she got to work on it. The truth was, she hoped that Puck hadn't been sexting when she entered the room, or anytime recently, but she knew that was too optimistic. This guy had proved to her many times that he couldn't be trusted in scenarios like those. Maybe he really wanted to be a good guy, but he sure didn't seem to be able to be faithful. Not even at the hopes of keeping a daughter he desperately wanted. Quinn wondered how that worked but she didn't want to ask. She didn't want to have any serious talks with him that were unneeded. He had made it clear to her that he needed sex and that was all that Quinn needed to know to be aware that she couldn't be with him.

After more contemplation and having all of her dresses hung up in the closet Quinn turned around to face Puck. "What am I going to say to your mom?"

He looked up from his cellphone and shrugged his shoulders at her. "I don't know. My name is Quinn. Thanks for letting me stay."

"Shouldn't I say something else?"

"Like what?"

Quinn bit her lip. "Like that I'm not keeping the baby. That once she's gone I'll find another place to live. Shouldn't I let her know the details of all of this?"

Puck shook his head. "She just found out that I knocked someone up. Give her time before you lay all that on her. Oh, but tell her that you're my girlfriend."

Quinn raised an eyebrow at Puck. She wondered if he had fallen down the stairs while retrieving boxes. "But I'm not."

Puck rolled his eyes. "No shit Sherlock. Just tell her. She's already going to be pissed at us. Better for her to think that we were dating then the truth."

Quinn shook her head. "No, I'm done with lying. The truth always comes out. It always does and then everything is worse than if you had just said what was really going on at the beginning of everything. Trust me, I know."

It was Puck's turn to shake his head. "Trust _me_, you don't. You don't know my mother at least. She's going to guilt trip you for getting pregnant on some one night stand. She'll look at you differently. She'll treat you differently. She'll hate me more and just get more disappointed. Why can't we just say we're in love and crap? It's not like she's going to force you into kissing me to prove it."

Quinn sighed and kneeled down on the floor. "She'll hate me if we're not dating?"

"No, but she's going to think something about you that's not true."

"Well what do I get out of all of this?"

Puck thought he had just told Quinn what it was. His mother wouldn't be a judgemental freak to her. However he found something else to tell her as well. "You can tell everyone at school we're dating as well."

Quinn laughed. "Why would I do that?"

"Because they're going to give you shit for lying to Finn and stuff. They'd give you less if we were dating. They'd know I'd beat them up. I'm not saying we'll actually do it, but if you tell my mom that you're my girlfriend then you can tell people at school that I'm your boyfriend. Win - win."

Quinn smoothed her dress out and thought it over as she reapplied lip gloss. The kids at school were going to be awful to her. Not only was she pregnant, but it was now out that she had cheated on her boyfriend with his best friend. People were going to think that she was awful. They were going to think that she was the meanest person in the world. The only hope she had at keeping a tiny bit of respect from those people was to do what Puck said. If they pretended that they were dating then everyone would assume they were secretly in love with each other and that's why they had slept with each other. It wasn't a drunk hook up when she was being a bitch. It could be special and romantic. So Quinn sighed but nodded her head at Puck "Fine, but don't think that this is anything more. It's for my reputation. I still want to do this all on my own."

Puck waved her comment off with his hand. "Whatever."

After a moment of silence it was time to face the music. Puck led Quinn down the stairs to meet his mother. He looked in the living room which was now empty. He wondered where his mom had sent Hannah. When entering the kitchen Puck found his mom waiting for them sitting by the kitchen table. A box of tissues was beside her, half gone. He realized she hadn't been lying about all that crying that she had to do.

"Where's Hannah?" He asked.

She motioned to the window. "I told her to make a snowman outside in the backyard." Mrs. Puckerman was attempting to avoid having to look at Quinn. She made sure to have her face just slightly away from her direction.

"Mom," Puck announced, "This is Quinn. Quinn, this is my mom."

Quinn smiled at the woman. Mrs. Puckerman turned her head reluctantly to look at Quinn. Her face was blank. There was no emotion present. Quinn wasn't sure how to proceed.

"Uhm," She she managed to say, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Puckerman."

There was no reply. Puck rolled his eyes at his mother's immaturity. She pursed her lips but finally spoke to Quinn. "You can call me Linda."

There was silence again. Mrs. Puckerman stared at Quinn's stomach and then shook her head. That made Quinn feel awful so she tried to diffuse the situation. "Thank you so much for letting me stay here Linda. I know I'm a burden so I appreciate it."

The woman managed to give her a slight smile. Her lips curved upwards only the tiniest bit, but both Quinn and Puck took it as a good sign. That was until she said, "Oh sweetie… you are, but there's nothing we can do about that now. You're here. We'll make do."

"Ma cut it out." Puck told her. He didn't like how she was being so cold to Quinn. He had told his mom that Quinn's parents had thrown her out. You would have thought it would buy the girl some form of sympathy. Apparently not.

"Noah please, I'm only agreeing with what Quinn said herself. I'm not going to smile and tell her that I've been just itching to have a new body under the roof i'm just managing to afford to pay because that's not true."

Before Puck could say anything else Quinn put a hand on his arm to stop him. "It's okay," She told him, "I get it."

Mrs Puckerman stood up and walked over to the two parents to be. She looked at Quinn and tilted her head. "Were you dating my son when this happened?"

Quinn bit her lip. She didn't want to lie anymore. As she had told Puck, it only made things that much more difficult. "Yes. I was."

Linda nodded her head and after a moment of what seemed to be consideration she asked in a whispered voice, "Did you have this happen on purpose?"

"Mom," Puck yelled, "Seriously cut it out."

Mrs. Puckerman feigned innocence and put a hand over her heart to appear compassionate. "Can you blame me for asking? I know you're a bit of a playboy Noah and this girl could have done this to have some sort of hold on you. It's not the first time a girl has done this type of thing to an innocent boy."

Quinn really wanted to slap Puck's mom. She didn't understand how the woman could be so rude to her and so judging when she didn't even know her. Quinn knew she couldn't hit her. It'd be stupid and a definite way to be expelled from the house. She had to keep her dignity as well. So Quinn held her head up high and shook her head. "This was a mistake. Not planned one bit and please don't say that again."

Mrs. Puckerman shrugged her shoulders. "I'm going to bring Hannah inside and explain the situation. You two can go. I'm sure you've told her the rules Noah."

Puck nodded and he took Quinn's hand so he could lead her away as she seemed frozen to the ground. She walked with him for a few steps before letting go of his hand and turning around. "It's a girl," She said, "You're having a granddaughter and I'm giving her up for adoption. Just so you know." Quinn turned back around without looking at Linda's reaction and started up the stairs ahead of Puck.

She collapsed on the bed when she reached Puck's room and looked up at the ceiling. She felt so foolish in her dress. She could have been wearing a spacesuit and Mrs. Puckerman would have hated her. Puck followed Quinn in and closed the door. He sat down on the bed and turned on his side to face her.

"I'm sorry." He told her.

Quinn rolled her eyes and continued to lay on her back, which she knew couldn't be good for the baby but she didn't care at the moment. "Why? You're just an innocent boy who got mixed up with the likes of some jealous and manipulative girl. I should apologize to you. After all, I am the one who made this all come about."

Puck felt bad for Quinn. He understood that his mother was upset and shocked about the whole situation and was just trying to find some way to blame it on Quinn so she wouldn't feel responsible for being the one to raise Puck that way. Still, she had been too harsh and he felt horrible looking at Quinn and seeing her so upset. Especially since he knew that if anyone were to be blamed for the pregnancy scandal that it should be him. He had screwed up. His mom couldn't handle that truth however as it would show error on her character. That was no excuse. Puck looked at Quinn again and saw a tear fall from her face. He wanted to wipe it away but was afraid she would slap him. He didn't know what to do. He had no idea what Quinn wanted from him.

"Do you want to get out of here? Go to McDonalds or something?" He offered. It was the best he could think of. Puck knew that when he was pissed off at home he liked to leave so he figured she probably felt the same way.

Quinn wiped her eyes and nodded. "I want to get out of here… no offence."

Puck nodded and helped her off the bed. They went to McDonalds and Quinn super sized her order. She felt crappy about how things had gone with Mrs. Puckerman and just wanted to feel better. Last time she wanted to feel better she had sex. Then she got pregnant. Food seemed like a much better option now. Puck noticed that she had super sized. He hoped that it didn't become a normality. He liked Quinn a lot but he really wasn't into fat chicks. He knew that probably made him a dick. He tried to get the thought out of his head because he knew he'd be dead if he ever told Quinn about it.

They made small talk about Glee Club and school. Quinn asked about Hannah and Puck gave her the basics. It wasn't the most natural thing in the world, but at least they were talking. They both knew things were going to be awkward for a while but at least they were both willing to try and be civil to each other. Puck hoped that one day soon they would reach a point where he could start asking questions about the baby. Quinn hoped that one day soon Puck would discover that he didn't want anything to do with the baby. Neither were sure if the day would come.

_So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I've found myself with some free time and since I've been very frustrated with the lack of Quick this season I've decided to write all about unseen moments from the back nine and hopefully this season as well. _

_ If you have the time, please leave a review! Writers take a lot of time to create stories and they live for feedback!_

_ Until next time,_

_ Happy Reading!_


	2. So Darkness I Became

They had been living together for a couple of weeks. They had gone back to school after Christmas break and Quinn had taken up his offer of pretending to date. She found him in between classes and made sure he wasn't flirting with girls. She claimed she didn't want their cover blown. Puck was happy to spend time with Quinn, even though he started blurting out stupid things like he didn't want her super sizing her food anymore. He was happy that she was speaking to him, even though he knew that it was all because she had no other options. He could see her glancing at Finn all the time with sadness and regret in her eyes. He saw Finn stare back. Rachel and him had become something of an item after the break but Puck could tell his former friend wasn't into it much. He could also tell that Finn wanted nothing to do with him. They seemed to be mortal enemies. The truth of the matter was that Puck couldn't understand why Finn wasn't relieved that he didn't have to deal with any baby drama any longer.

The break up of Finn and Rachel had come quickly. It seemed like Finn wanted to become a stud or something and that was the end of it. Quinn mumbled something about Mercedes and Kurt thinking one of Vocal Adrenaline's members was trying to sabotage New Directions by seducing Rachel. He hadn't paid much thought to it. He had enough to worry about now and Glee Club wasn't at the top of the list.

It especially wasn't one of his favourite activities when Mr. Schue announced that they would be singing Madonna. Puck wasn't particularly happy about it. Madonna was chick music and definitely not something a badass like himself would listen to. The only time he had ever played it was when Quinn wanted to silence those brats. He was trying to impress her so he went with it, but now there was nothing to gain from it. Quinn was pumped for it. She had sung some song about expressing herself and wouldn't stop humming the tune for days afterward. She told him that she couldn't wait for the group number.

One thing that Puck was still worrying about was the living conditions. Quinn had been living at his house but it was clear that she was not happy about it. He assumed that she still wasn't fond of his mother who spent every moment avoiding Quinn or ignoring her. It also seemed that Quinn felt awkward living somewhere else, especially with someone who she found it hard to talk to. Before the truth had come out it seemed easy and natural to talk to one another. Not anymore. Quinn was protecting her heart and not letting Puck anywhere near it. Truth be told she was also still a little stung about the sexting debacle. Puck was afraid that he would say something stupid and make Quinn even more upset with him so he tried not to say anything. However, there was one topic he discussed at length. That was Super Mario Brothers. Puck thought it was a safe enough discussion point that he could speak about it without risking being on the other side of Quinn's wrath. She hated when he talked about it as she had no interest in video games but she was polite and nodded along which led Puck to the idea that things were going well.

Three nights ago Puck had woken up in the middle of the night. He had all of the covers wrapped around him. He turned over to his side (Quinn was still making sure to sleep facing away from him) and saw that Quinn was on the edge of the bed curled up into a ball, shivering. Puck wasn't sure if she was awake or not. He adjusted the blanket so it was covering both of them and went back to sleep.

That would have been fine except the day before Puck had woken up to the exact same situation. He was being a cover hog and Quinn was shivering on the opposite side of the bed. He didn't want to risk waking her in case she was asleep so he just covered her with the other half of the blanket. Puck was starting to wonder why Quinn wasn't taking any of the cover off of him or asking him to share but he chalked it up to her being asleep and not noticing.

But that night he realized it wasn't a coincidence. Puck had woken up once more and found himself taking all of the covers. He turned around once more and saw Quinn all curled up like she had been the previous two times. He frowned and was about to pass the blanket over to her until he saw her move a little and he heard her shiver. He could tell that she was awake.

"Why do you keep doing this?" He whispered.

Quinn turned her head around and frowned. "What do you mean?"

Puck passed the cover to her and she immediately took it and wrapped it around herself to feel some warmth. "I mean that," He replied, "Why don't you just take it when I hog it or tell me about it in the morning?"

Quinn was now facing towards Puck. She shrugged her shoulders. "It's your house."

It had been clear to Puck that Quinn wasn't comfortable with living with him. She always asked if she could get something to eat or if she could turn off a light. She would announce when she was leaving a room and where she would be. She didn't feel at home to say the least. Puck couldn't blame her for it. She was probably just getting used to living with Finn before having to switch houses to some guy who had basically said he couldn't be with her unless she gave it up to him every day. He still felt awful for saying that. Sure, he had meant it but he still shouldn't have said it. Still, Quinn had been making it clear that he was always going to be second fiddle to Finn. Even if the baby came out with a mohawk. A guy can't sit around and take that forever without getting a little annoyed.

Puck rested his head on his arm as he sat up a tad. "It's your house too now. You can take food when you're hungry and you can take back the covers."

Quinn smiled. That had become a rarity for her. Life hadn't been giving her much of a reason to lately. Except Madonna. Madonna was a reason to smile. "Thanks… but it still feels awkward. I feel like I'm intruding on your family."

Puck rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't. If I wasn't an idiot you wouldn't be in this mess."

Quinn eyes looked down. "Oh I know that. Believe me. It's just… your mom. She doesn't make me feel the most welcome."

Puck nodded his head. He then felt Quinn's foot accidentally graze his knee and she immediately withdrew it. She turned around so she wasn't facing him as well. He was going to tease Quinn about her coyness but he felt how cold her touch was. "God you're freezing. You feel like an icicle." He acted on instinct and moved closer. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to transfer his warmth to her.

Quinn tensed up and whispered, "What are you doing?"

Puck moved a strand of her hair behind her hair and moved closer to her ear to whisper back. "You're cold. I'm warm. I promise I won't try to seduce you."

Quinn rolled her eyes, not as if he could see or anything. She wanted to push Puck away from her but even now sharing the blanket she was still freezing and she had to admit that Puck's body pressed against hers was working. She felt the warmth and had to forgo her pride so she wouldn't be frozen by the time morning came about.

They didn't talk. Quinn fell asleep in Puck's arms that night. She woke up and noticed quickly that she was holding his hand that was wrapped around her waist. She let go and gently pried his arms from her so she could get up without him noticing. She had become accustomed to getting up earlier than Puck so she could go into the washroom first and get ready for school.

As she was putting on moisturizer Quinn realized just how scary everything was. Puck was being nice. It was preferable to him being mean, but it wasn't safe. Being around Puck while he was sweet just made her fantasize what life could be like if she was with him truly. She could keep their daughter. They could be a family. Quinn never had a real family. She had a group of people who were determined to keep up their perfect appearance. Maybe Puck could be a good father. Maybe he could be a good boyfriend. Those were the thoughts that scared Quinn. She shouldn't be thinking such things. They would lead to disappointment. She had to distance herself. Plus, Quinn thought she was overreacting about everything. They had snuggled. It wasn't like the guy had gone on one knee and proposed to her.

While Quinn straightened her hair Puck woke up and noticed that he was alone in bed. It wasn't a surprise. Quinn usually got out of bed before him. Still, it was different that morning. Puck remembered the night before. He had done something he had sworn to himself that he would never subject himself to. He had snuggled. He had cuddled with Quinn. It was a scary thought. He couldn't keep getting so close with her. It was bad news. She kept rejecting him every time they started getting close. She lost her virginity to him. She then ignored him until he discovered that she was pregnant. He gave her money and told her he was serious about raising the baby together. She wheeled off with Finn in his wheelchair. He babysat with her and tried to prove he could be a good dad. She got pissed that he was sexting. He told her he would still be there for her when the truth came out about her baby's paternity. She made it clear that she wanted to do everything on her own. There was no winning with Quinn. Puck would always be second best to her. He was always the last resort. Plus, doing all this cuddling and pillow talk was turning Puck into a real softie. It was embarrassing and he couldn't stand how much of a girl he was being. Puck had to put an end to it quickly. He told himself that he needed distance from Quinn. He would be a badass again in no time.

Throughout the day Quinn and Puck barely said a word to one another. They made small talk in the morning but once they arrived at school they went their separate ways. Both really had no desire to be near the other. They had their reasoning for avoiding one another. Quinn wanted to protect her plans for the future. Puck wanted to protect his reputation. The other reasoning though was that both were afraid the other would bring up the night before. Sure it had been sweet at the time but now it was just awkward to talk about. They weren't supposed to be like that with each other.

Artie wheeled over to Puck's locker between second and third period. "Glee practice today after school. It's only for the guys. Mr. Schue told me to tell you."

Puck looked down at the kid with glasses whose name he occasionally forgot and shook his head. "I've got to drive – I just have stuff to do." He was about to say that he needed to drive Quinn home but he remembered how he needed to stop being seen as such a whipped idiot.

Artie shrugged his shoulders. "It's mandatory. Talk to Schuester if you've got a problem."

Puck nodded and walked in the opposite direction as Artie wheeled off to his next class. Luckily Puck had math now, which he usually skipped anyways, so he could easily find his teacher and tell him that he couldn't make practice. It couldn't be that important if only the boys had to attend.

Puck walked down the hallway to the Spanish office. He knocked on the door and Mr. Schue opened the door. "Puck," He greeted, "Shouldn't you be in class now?"

"I have study period," Puck lied, "But I had to tell you that I can't come to Glee after school today."

Mr. Schuester leaned against the railing of the door and crossed his arms. He didn't look pleased at the news. "It's mandatory."

Puck nodded. "Artie told me that but… well I've got to drive Quinn home and she'll complain all night if I tell her that she has to wait after school for me to go to Glee practice. I'll get Mike to fill me in for what I missed."

The Spanish teacher shook his head. He had plans for the practice that demanded that every boy in the club attend. "No. You have to be there Puck. This practice is important. I'm serious about this. I'm sure Quinn can find another way home. Couldn't Santana drive her home?"

Puck wanted to burst out laughing but he held it in. Quinn and Santana were not friends by any stretch of the imagination. They used to tolerate each other and pretend to be best friends. Quinn needed someone who would follow her every instruction while Santana needed to be friends with Quinn to stay near the top of the social ladder. Now that Quinn was basically a social wreck Santana refused to be nice to the girl. She didn't need to anymore since she was herself the top dog. The power had crept up to her head and Santana was abusing it every way she knew how. Quinn had felt betrayed but there was nothing she could do about it. Puck also knew that Santana had some jealousy issues with Quinn and he knew that was enough for Santana to refuse her a drive home.

"I don't think that'll happen Mr. Schue. I can't come today. Sorry. Quinn will just bitch to me again like everything that happens to her is my fault."

"No," Mr. Schuester said more forcefully. "This is exactly why you have to come. I don't care what your excuse is Puck. Unless you want detention for the next week you will show up to Glee practice after school today."

Puck rolled his eyes and walked away without another word. He didn't understand why he couldn't catch a break. He knew that if it had been Finn that asked to skip rehearsal he would have been given a free pass no problem. There was obvious favoritism in the club.

Puck pulled out his cell phone and texted Quinn. _Glee club practice for the guys today. Can't drive you home._

He sauntered back to math class and sat down silently in his seat hoping that his teacher wouldn't noticed that he was fifteen minutes late. He took out his textbook and pretended to be working. His phone vibrated and he checked to see Quinn's response. _What do you expect me to do? Walk?_

This was more natural. Bickering and acting like putting up with the other was a chore was a much more comfortable feeling than falling asleep holding each other or whispering sweet things that only guys like Finn would say. Puck texted her back. _Wait in the library until I'm done or get someone else to drive you home. _

He knew she wasn't going to go for either of those ideas. Quinn liked to get her own way. No, more like she demanded to have her own way. It was selfish, but anytime he said anything she would remind Puck that she was carrying his bastard child and deserved to have a few luxuries.

Quinn was currently in English class. She has become distracted from reading _Romeo and Juliet _by Puck's text messages. She only had two options it seemed. Wait at least an hour after school or find another ride home. Quinn knew that the first wasn't really an option. She was sick of being in school. She was sick of the looks people were giving her and the whisperings that came out of their mouths. Quinn had even heard two science teachers whisper about her that morning. "That's her. She's the one that lied to her boyfriend. It's really his best friend's baby." Said a younger teacher who had black hair and a lazy eye. The other older teacher pursed her lips, shook her head, and said, "It's a shame. Wasn't she a Cheerio?" Quinn had walked away quickly enough to not hear anymore. Yet there was no running away from the gossip. The people changed but the whisperings stayed the same.

Since Quinn needed to live the building immediately she only had the second option available. The tricky part was finding someone to drive her home. The only people that really talked to her were the people in Glee Club. Puck had stated that the rehearsal was for the boys so her options were now down to five people. Tina and Mercedes didn't have cars and took the bus home. Mercedes sometimes got picked up from school or got a ride from Kurt but Quinn didn't want to be a burden on someone else's parents. Rachel got a ride home from one of her dads and Quinn was not about to voluntarily get into a car with her arch nemesis. That left only two people: Brittany and Santana. Though the former had a license and a car, Quinn still couldn't help but doubt the ditzy blonde's driving capabilities. Now that Quinn was responsible for a life other than her own, she couldn't risk things like getting into a car with someone who probably thought the yellow light meant speed up. That left her with one option. Santana. That wasn't much of an option. It wasn't for sure at all if Santana would give her a ride. They weren't on the best terms and Quinn could see Santana seizing the situation as an opportunity to show Quinn who was head bitch in charge now.

Still, it was her only shot. Quinn had lunch next period with Santana so she could ask her then. They didn't sit with each other usually. Santana never told her to leave if Quinn sat down with her, but she wasn't warm or welcoming in the least.

Quinn wished she had driven her car to school. She hated being so dependent on other people. However, she had decided it was the smartest thing to do to carpool with Puck to and from school in order to save money she would be spending on gas. Her car was rarely used and she had been considering selling it in case she ended up deciding to keep the baby (not likely) or needed the money after her daughter was born, she had moved out of the Puckerman house, and needed to pay rent (very likely). Now Quinn had to think over her decision. When she was in a position of scrambling for someone to drive her home, giving away a car didn't make the most sense anymore.

Third period ended and Quinn rushed to the cafeteria to find Santana. She spotted her sitting beside Brittany and a couple of other Cheerio's. Finn was there as well and it looked like Santana was trying to seduce him in front of the whole student body. Quinn knew it made the situation all that more awkward but her main priority was a drive home so she sacrificed her pride and walked over to the group.

"Hey Santana." She greeted, trying to sound as sincerely nice as possible. Quinn wasn't even sure if that would help matters. Santana seemed to be repulsed by positive human emotions.

Her former best friend greeted her in a monotone voice. "What do you need?"

Quinn bit her lip. "A ride home today. Please?" It seemed like the best strategy to be upfront.

Santana smiled patronizingly towards her. "Where's Puckerman? I thought your baby daddy was taking good care of you now."

Quinn looked at Finn who had grimaced at the comment. She knew he was still hurt by what she had done. She couldn't blame him. She was still trying to find someway to forgive herself for doing it. "He has to go to Glee practice after school," Quinn replied, "Can you give me a ride or not?"

Santana shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever. But if your morning sickness comes late like your period did and you hurl in my car; pregnant or not, I will slap you."

It took every bone in her body for Quinn to control her emotions and not start a throw down with Santana but she maintained her composure and walked off. At least she had a ride home. Her mission had been successful.

Quinn walked out of the cafeteria, past the teenagers wearing jeans and t-shirts without a care in the world, and made her way through the main foyer to the library. She had become accustomed to having lunch in there and getting ahead in schoolwork nowadays. She wasn't a regular teenager. Gossiping over water with lemon slices with the other Cheerios wasn't a part of her daily agenda anymore. Instead Quinn sat down at an empty table in the library and took out her English essay that she needed to self edit.

Puck was looking for Quinn. Maybe he was trying to not be so soft but he still needed to know if his baby momma had a ride home or not. He had walked around to a few places he knew she sometimes went at lunch but had no luck finding her. When he entered the cafeteria for the second time he remembered that Quinn had once told him that she worked in the library at lunch a couple of times. He decided it was worth a shot, even if he hadn't been in the school library since the beginning of high school.

He walked in and saw her sitting at the far side of the room. He walked over and saw her furiously scratching out words on a piece of paper in red ink. He cleared his throat to get her attention. Quinn looked up and saw Puck standing in front of her. "What?" She asked.

"You've got a ride home?"

She nodded her head. Quinn wasn't in the mood to talk to Puck. He was starting to become a little too attentive to her. Sure, it was nice to have one person in the world that cared about her but she had to feel a little resentment on that one person being him. "Good." With that Puck turned back and walked quickly to rush out of the library. Well, that was different. Quinn realized she had just been feeling perplexed about Puck's attentiveness towards her but now that he seemed distant she wasn't pleased by that either.

"Stupid pregnancy hormones." She muttered.

After school Puck straggled to Glee practice to meet up with the guys while Quinn met up with Santana to be driven home.

Santana sneered before the blonde opened the passenger's door. "You're not feeling queasy right?"

Quinn shook her head. Oh if only things could go back to when she was the most popular girl in school and Santana feared her. She would never dare make comments like that. Life was seriously unfair.

Santana put her seatbelt on and while backing out of the parking space asked, "Your house is his house now, right?"

Quinn nodded. It was the first time Quinn was happy to be living with Puck. His house was much closer to the school than hers. This meant less time spent in a car with a girl who looked like she could kill you with a single dirty look.

Quinn looked at Santana and was jealous. She got to wear the prestigious Cheerio's uniform. It was a symbol of belonging. It was a symbol of being a winner. Quinn envied all of the girls on the team, even if the weren't allowed to eat cookies or drink anything besides water.

"Do you guys hook up now?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow at Santana. She didn't remember when they had gone back to times of telling each other secrets and discussing things that friends usually did together. "I'm just asking." Santana defended.

"No," Quinn replied, "We don't."

Santana pursed her lips. "I thought you guys were dating or something?"

Crap. Quinn had forgotten that she was supposed to stick with that story. She wasn't sure if it was really doing her any good, but since she ha d told people once returning to school she had to stick with the story. "We are. But we're taking things slow. I've been going through a lot of stuff lately… as you know."

Santana nodded. "You feel really bad about lying to Finn, don't you?"

Was Santana really being friendly and nice to her? It was weird and didn't seem natural. Quinn however wasn't going to ruin the chance of having some sort of friend again so she told her, "I feel awful."

Santana clenched her hands harder around the steering wheel as she turned the corner onto a side street that led to the Puckerman house. "Then why don't you feel like a bitch for what you did to me?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow. She figured she had been wrong about Santana. She was still mean and hated her. "What did I do to you?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Maybe we hated each other but we still called each other best friends. You slept with my boyfriend."

"He wasn't your boyfriend then. You broke up a week before."

"Doesn't matter."

Quinn knew that Santana was right. She hadn't been a very good friend when she had broken girl rule number one: Never hook up with your friend's exes. With all of the Finn drama Quinn had ignored what she had done to Santana. "I'm sorry. If I could take it back I would."

Santana turned onto the street that the Puckermans lived on. "Only because then you would be able to fit into your old jeans."

Quinn nodded. "That's most of the reason. But I also do feel bad about being a bitch to you. I'm not a very good friend. I'm not a very good girlfriend. I'm not a very good daughter. I'm not really a good person."

Santana smirked. "Well as long as you know it. So… you're pregnant and Puck will yell at me if I'm a bitch so I won't. But you should know that I hate that you guys are together, I can't stand you for being so holier than thou all the time and then getting yourself knocked up, and when your bastard child situation is nipped in the bud… I will still be top dog and I will be as bitchy to you as I would anyone else."

Santana had parked in front of the Puckerman house and Quinn wanted to run out of the car and into the house as quickly as possible after hearing such words, but she knew that if she wanted to show any ounce of self-respect she couldn't. She locked eyes with Santana, showing her that she wasn't scared of anyone. Quinn then flipped her hair and gracefully got out of the car, slammed the door not so gracefully closed, and retreated inside of the house.

Meanwhile, Puck was with the guys in the choir room. They were waiting on the seats for Mr. Schuester to join them.

"Why are we even waiting," Puck asked. "The dude can't even show up on time."

"Chill." Finn warned. There was animosity in his voice. They were still not on the best terms. Puck didn't necessarily know why. He would have thought Finn would be relieved to have such a huge load off of his back. Apparently that was not the correct

assumption.

Puck slumped into the back of his chair. He hated being here. Finn was talking to Matt and Mike about basketball while Artie was asking Kurt for advice on a pair of suspenders. Puck didn't have anyone. He was an outcast. He had always been the coolest guy or the smoothest guy in the room. He was always a badass no matter where he went. Now he was a nobody. Mike and Matt had told them they weren't picking sides but it was obvious that they sympathized with Finn. He had been too mean to Artie and Kurt in the past to even try and talk to them. Besides, associating with the two of them would do nothing but solidify his outcast status. All Puck could do was hope that Mr. Schue came stumbling into the classroom quickly.

It took about five more minutes for Puck to have his wish granted. The Spanish teacher came in the room with a stack of paper in his hands. "Sorry about the wait," He muttered as he handed out sheet music to each guy. "There were some printer problems."

Puck didn't look at the music. He didn't want to sing and wasn't excited about it in the least. Why did the guys have to do an extra group number without any consideration in the matter? It was… what was that word Quinn kept throwing around lately? Sexist. It was sexist.

"I'm not singing." Puck declared.

Mr. Schue frowned. "You are. All of you are. The way you guys have been treating the girls has been wrong. They've let me know a few of the struggles they've been going through as you know and I'm ashamed that you guys haven't been respecting them the way you should be. Finn, Artie, and Puck, you guys are the main offenders. You all will be singing this Madonna song to them tomorrow after school. So look over your lyrics and then we'll get started."

Puck rolled his eyes. It was bull crap that he had to sing some stupid Madonna song. Also, how was he disrespecting a girl? He knew it had to be Quinn since he never talked to Rachel, Mercedes, and Tina, and Brittany and Santana didn't expect to be respected. After all he had done to try and make her realize he was a good guy and she complained to their teacher about him? Puck was pissed. He turned the sheet music over and wanted to hurl when he saw the title. _What it Feels Like for a Girl_. That had to be the gayest song ever written. There was no way that Noah Puckerman would be getting up in front of any group of people and singing a song like that. The only bright side of the situation was that Puck didn't have a solo in the song. He would only be harmonizing. It was an upside, but Puck was sticking to his guns by saying that he would never perform this song in front of anyone.

Mr. Schue called the boys up to stand around the piano to sing the song. Just when Puck thought it couldn't get any worse. How sappy did the due really want to make this song? Puck begrudgingly walked over and stood beside Kurt and Matt. It started out with Kurt, Artie, and Finn speaking some lines. Then Finn started in on the singing. He seemed really into it. Puck cocked an eyebrow up in disbelief at how much of a chick his former best friend was acting. Then it was Puck's turn to join in. He sang out _Strong inside but you don't know it. Good little girls they never show it._ He hated himself for singing it. If anyone like Karofsky walked past the choir room now he would be dead. He'd be having slushee facials every morning for a year at the very least. Artie sang his solo line and then it was time for everyone to jump in for the chorus.

_Do you know what it feels like in this world?_

_ For a girl_

_ For a girl_

_ In this world_

Mr. Schuester made some really weird hand movements as they extended the last notes of the words and Puck was horrified at how into this song everyone was. Didn't anyone else realize how lame it was to be singing this?

Puck decided to mock the boys as he mimicked some of Mr. Schue's hand movements while singing, _Do you know what if feels like in this world?_

Then it was over and time for Puck to say his piece. "I am not down with this," He let everyone know. "I like being a dude."

Finn replied, "That's because it's easy _being_ a dude."

Was Finn really trying to patronize him? That was the second time today. Puck was not about to let the other guys think that he was some dog that could be kicked whenever someone felt like it. "Mr. Schue, I think we're going to need a new baritone cause Finn would like to become Finnessa."

Finn rolled his eyes. He had enough of his immature, betraying, former best friend. The guy was a douche.

Mr. Schue stepped in before anyone else could say anything. "Wait – hold on Puck. Finn has a point. I mean, haven't you noticed how low morale has been around here lately?"

Artie then told them some story about Tina overreacting about some feminism thing that Puck could care less about. Kurt then jumped in with his opinion about having to respect each other's talent and individuality. Puck could understand respecting the girls. That made sense. Singing some embarrassing song was what didn't. "Fine," He told them. "But I'm _not _singing this song."

Finn nodded at Puck. "We don't have to. We just have to make it right with the girls. Show them we get how it feels."

All the guys agreed to tell the girls that they understood their struggles of womanhood and Mr. Schue agreed that if they did they wouldn't have to sing the Madonna song for them. Finn would apologize to Rachel, Artie to Tina, Kurt to Mercedes, Matt to Santana, Mike to Brittany, and Puck to Quinn. Puck agreed to it to get out of singing the song but there was no way he was going to be telling Quinn he was sorry for anything. First of all he didn't think he had anything to be sorry for. He had always stepped up with Quinn, telling her he would be there for their baby and her, even when she didn't want him. He had given her a house. He didn't need to apologize to her. Second of all, he couldn't say sorry because it would go completely against the new demeanor he was trying to have with Quinn and the rest of the students. He needed to be tough. Tough guys don't apologize and start reciting things like 'struggles of womanhood'.

So Puck went home and found Quinn in what had now become _their_ bedroom. She was sitting at his desk, which she had cleaned up a week ago, and was busy doing schoolwork. He plopped down, face first, onto his bed.

"So what was your secret boys only, no girls allowed, Glee practice all about?" She asked, not looking away from her schoolwork.

Puck didn't turn around so his voice was muffled. "Just extra practice for regionals." He lied, but he didn't care too much. He closed his eyes and went to sleep, trying to speed through the rest of the day.

The next day at school, Friday, Quinn was excited for the Madonna number that Finn had planned. It was set to _Like a Prayer_, which Quinn loved. It was the only thing that she had to look forward to that day. She loved dressing up, and learning the choreography.

Once the girls were changed into their red shirts and black pants, they walked out into the auditorium to meet with the boys. The Glee Club now included Jesse St James, formerly of Vocal Adrenaline. He transferred to be closer to Rachel. Quinn wanted to barf. Quinn saw Puck in his red V-neck and she had to admit that he looked adorable. She had been concentrating on avoiding him so much yesterday to protect her heart but it was hard when he cuddled up next to her or looked so cute. She fought her instinct to go over and kiss him. She wanted to. Even Rachel _freaking_ Berry had a boyfriend now, and Quinn also knew hoe much it would upset Santana. However, Quinn composed herself and blamed her feelings for Puck on pregnancy hormones. So Quinn walked over to Puck. He was sitting down on the stage waiting for everyone to be ready. Quinn sat down beside him and whispered in his ear, "I heard your mom telling you that she's going to be out tonight and Hannah won't be home."

Puck nodded and looked at Quinn. "Mom's going out with some new guy and Hannah's at a sleepover."

Quinn smiled. "So if we have the house to ourselves… maybe we could do something."

Puck raised an eyebrow suggestively. He didn't believe what he was hearing. "Really?" He asked.

Quinn sighed. "Not _that_," She clarified, "But something."

Puck nodded and kissed her cheek. Sure, he wanted to be a badass and all but the prospect of having a make out session with Quinn was too good to pass up. He knew he needed to be sweet to her in the meanwhile so that she wouldn't change her mind. Hey, at least he managed to get it without having to say that stupid apology.

It was time for the group number to start and Puck and Quinn had a good deal of energy rushing through them as they performed. It was a fun song, and the dancing with the choir members was something they had never done before. Quinn hoped they would perform the number at regionals. She thought it was _that_ good.

After they were done Mr. Schue and the choir clapped for them and told them how amazing they were. Each member of the club hugged the choir members and thanked them for singing with them. They then made their way into the washrooms to change back into their regular clothes. On the way to the girls washroom Quinn smiled at Finn and told him that he had come up with a great number. He nodded at her, but he didn't seem to be paying much attention. He was looking at Jesse and Rachel, who were holding hands and acting very couple-y. Quinn hated that Rachel was getting so much attention so she walked on.

Puck was waiting for her beside the door to the girl's washroom. He smiled as she came up to him. "I'll wait out here for you, okay?"

Quinn nodded and was about to walk into the washroom before she turned around and told Puck, "Don't change, okay? Stay in that."

Puck raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

Quinn giggled. "I just think you look really cute."

Puck smirked and nodded. He watched Quinn walk inside the washroom and then let out a laugh. They were actually getting along. She wanted to do stuff with him, he figured the most she'd be into was making out but that was still an improvement over tensing up whenever their hands accidently touched. Plus, if she eased into the making out then he probably wouldn't have a hard time getting to second base. Dude, if he could keep Quinn in a good mood for a few weeks then he might have an easier time with the whole "getting a girl pregnant" thing. He'd still be a badass in front of everyone else to keep his reputation up, but he figured that now he could let his guard down a little in front of Quinn.

Quinn couldn't believe what was coming over her. All of the books had warned her that she might feel more… what was that word… aroused while pregnant, but she hadn't thought anything of it. However she had just tried being seductive and she was fantasizing about making out with Puck. Things were a tad weird, but it wasn't a bad weird. Quinn finished changing and came out of the stall to all of the other girls: Santana, Brittany, Rachel, Tina, and Mercedes all giggling and chatting away.

"What is it?" Quinn asked.

Tina smiled. "We're just telling each other about the sweet things the guys said to us when they apologized."

Quinn was confused. What apologies? "What?" She asked, a little afraid to in case she was left out of the secret circle.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Just because you're having a baby doesn't mean you have to have the IQ of one. That Glee practice they had yesterday. Where they were told to apologize to us girls for treating us like dirt. Puckerman didn't say sorry?"

Quinn put two and two together and figured it out. Puck had lied to her. He was a jerk. He was arrogant and didn't think he owed her an apology. Or he was just an asshole and didn't want to say sorry. She was embarrassed. She couldn't tell them that he hadn't apologized or she would be more of a reject than usual. She would have to lie. It was her only option.

"He did," Quinn repeated. "He told me that he was sorry for putting me through all of this. Not that it's any of your businesses."

Quinn then walked out of the washroom and saw Puck leaning against the wall, still in his red T-shirt and dark wash jeans. She scowled at him. He knew that he was in trouble, but he didn't know for what. He had only left her only for five minutes! She walked straight ahead, out to the car. Puck followed.

She walked out into the parking lot and stormed into the passenger seat of the car. Puck walked into the driver's seat and turned towards Quinn. "What the hell?"

"You lied to me." She declared.

Puck was confused. He didn't know what Quinn was talking about. She rolled her eyes. "You tell me your rehearsal was just a practice and then all the girls are in the washroom talking about the sweet apologies they got from the guys and I'm standing there like an idiot because you didn't say anything! And then I have to lie and say that you were sweet and told me you were sorry but you didn't!"

Puck gulped. He didn't think that Quinn was ever going to find out. However, he had underestimated the gossiping that goes on between females. He tried to cover his tracks. "I was going to Quinn, I was but I wanted to do it special. Later tonight I was going to do it."

Quinn shook her head, laid back in her seat, and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're lying. Again. Just drive home. I don't want to talk to you anymore."

Puck sighed. He had been looking forward to what had been in store. "So are you going to forgive me later tonight or are our plans off?"

Quinn gave him a death stare. She was mortified that he would bring up her lapse in judgment. She was also furious at herself for even thinking about hooking up with Puck. He would never change. Puck got the message and didn't wait for an answer. He put the keys in the ignition and drove them both home.

He slept on the couch that night. Quinn was extremely angry with him and not ready for forgiving any time soon. Puck knew that he had screwed up. He should have just apologized. Even a half-hearted sorry she probably would have accepted. But he had to worry about his reputation. He had to focus on his own self, rather than think of Quinn at all. What an idiot.

Quinn went to bed that night and decided that she would find ways to spend her time over the weekend out of the house so that she wouldn't need to spend much time with Puck. He had the most to apologize for and he hadn't said anything. What an asshole.

_Writer's Note: (Please read)_

_I hope you all liked this chapter! It was fun writing it. It was obviously based off of The Power of Madonna and next episode will be about Home. _

_ If you have the time, I would very much appreciate it if you could leave a review of this chapter. It could be one word, one sentence, or a whole paragraph! Just anything to let me know how you, the reader, are liking the story. Or any comments you may have. Writers live for feedback._

_ Thank you very much for those who have reviewed already, or put this story on alert or in their favourites! You guys rock!_

_ Until next time,_

_ Happy Reading!_


	3. I Wish to Feel Smaller

She felt ugly. She used to be self-confident and knew that she was the hottest thing around. Now she was insecure. She hated the way she looked. She hated the way that she felt in her own skin. She was fat. She had convinced herself that she didn't look like a pregnant woman did, but what a fat ass did. It upset her. Quinn hoped that one day she could be at peace with her body again. For the time being she was trapped in it.

It all came back to the first time she had felt insecure. That day she felt fat and went running to Puck. Turns out he didn't make her feel any less fat in the long run. Because of Puck, Quinn felt worse about herself than she ever had before.

Though she felt like a whale, Quinn was eating healthy and had consulted numerous pregnancy websites and books to determine the best diet for her situation. Just because she hated being pregnant, and her daughter wasn't planned, didn't mean that she didn't deserve to be treated right. No matter if Quinn ultimately decided to keep her or not, she was going to come out healthy. It was the least Quinn could do. She had screwed up everywhere else, but she wasn't screwing up this time.

Quinn still wasn't very comfortable with the fact that Puck hadn't apologized to her but she knew that with her lack of popularity she wasn't in a position to be pushing too many people away. Plus, they were living together, which made it dreadfully hard to avoid Puck. After sleeping on the couch for two nights Quinn told him that he could come back. It only seemed right. It was _his_ bed. Quinn wasn't talkative around him however, and preferred to be alone, and Puck could notice. He thought about apologizing but didn't know if it would do any good. Quinn might think that he was just trying to get back on her good side. So he kept on as normal, not saying a word. He knew that he probably should say something, but he couldn't figure out a time where it would feel genuine and not as if he was apologizing just because he felt he had to. After he had been invited back to the bed he had wanted to say something but he didn't. Puck felt like a chump. So he was on the look out for a moment to tell Quinn that he was sorry. He was going to make it up to her.

Quinn was really starting to miss being a Cheerio once again. The uniform, the power, the notoriety, it all would protect her from the harsh looks and cruel whispers that filled the hallways. Kurt and Mercedes had recently joined the squad. Quinn had to admit that she had been impressed with their _4 Minutes_ routine. They had a lot of energy and seemed to fit in with the squad. Well, Quinn was a tad worried. She had been so frustrated while on Cheerio's regarding eating habits. She would go on the treadmill for an hour straight if she even ate a cookie. Quinn hoped that Mercedes didn't crack under the pressure. She made a note in her head to keep an eye on her fellow Glee Club member just in case. It was only right. Mercedes wasn't aware of the stipulations that came with Cheerio's and Quinn didn't want to see the girl hurt herself. Especially since she knew how confident Mercedes had been previous to joining cheerleading.

Puck and Quinn were keeping up their act of being boyfriend and girlfriend. At school it wasn't so hard. They mostly just had to sit together at Glee Club or hold hands as they entered the school. Quinn was getting lazier with keeping up appearances. Her hurt over the whole apology, or lack thereof, was keeping her from pretending to love, or even like, Puck. It was even harder to pretend at home. Linda, Puck's mom, was always around and could see the awkward way that Quinn and Puck had around each other. It didn't seem normal for a boyfriend and girlfriend but she didn't comment on it. Quinn was thankful.

The feeling of being heavy had started only a couple of days ago. Quinn had woken up, looked in the mirror, and not liked what she saw at all. Her stomach didn't look with child, just fat. Her face was swollen. Her thighs were gaining way too much weight. It wasn't good. Quinn felt trapped in a body that wasn't her own.

What made it worse was that Quinn then had to go into bed with Puck. She feared that she would climb in, the bed would sink, and he would make an insensitive comment about her weight. It would be just like him. However Quinn made her way into the bed to go to sleep, knowing there was no way to avoid it. She climbed in and heard no wise crack. Puck was lying in bed, texting.

"Who's that?" She asked. Though Quinn didn't want to be with Puck, she was self-conscious that he was only putting up with her because he had to and he would much rather be hooking up with Santana at any second.

"Mike Chang," Puck replied honestly, but then remembered his lie during babysitting. "For real this time. Look."

Puck tossed the phone to Quinn to show her he wasn't lying anymore. After messing up so badly with the apology he wasn't going to screw up so soon afterwards. Quinn didn't want to be a crazy, untrustworthy person though, and she figured the handoff of the phone was proof enough. So she tossed it back to him. "I believe you."

Quinn then laid down on her back, which wasn't such a comfortable position, but she wasn't ready to go to sleep just yet. Then, coming out of nowhere Quinn felt a muscle quiver in her stomach. "Ooh." She let out. She knew what it was. The baby had kicked for the first time.

"What?" Puck asked.

Quinn shook her head and put her hand to her stomach. "Nothing… I think she just kicked for the first time."

Puck's eyes grew wide. It was a big moment. Out of instinct Puck neared his hand to Quinn's stomach to feel the kick. However, Quinn swatted it away and turned to her side. Puck didn't understand what was so wrong. He figured she was still pissed about him not saying sorry. In reality, it was that Quinn didn't want Puck to feel how truly fat she had become.

The next day, before school, Quinn was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Linda was drinking coffee as she read the newspaper. Hannah was in the living room, already ready for school, and watching cartoons. Puck was at the kitchen counter, deciding on what type of cereal he wanted to eat as he waited for his toast to pop up from the toaster.

Linda kept looking up from her newspaper to stare at Quinn quizzically. Quinn noticed what she was doing but tried to ignore it. She had been getting looks like such from the students at school but she had never thought she would have to suffer from them at home as well. It just made living at the Puckermans more uncomfortable. Quinn knew that Linda was not fond of her. She had heard her repeatedly ask Puck when the due date was and if she would be leaving once the baby was born. Puck always told her the date, and then said he wasn't sure what the living situation would be afterwards but it didn't stop his mom from asking again. Quinn had also received numerous dirty looks, especially when she was eating. As such, it wasn't such a surprise that Mrs. Puckerman was staring at her now.

One of the times that Linda looked up from the newspaper Quinn caught her stare. "Yes?" Quinn asked. She was fed up with the childish antics coming from a grown woman.

Linda pursed her lips. "You've been putting on an awful amount of weight, haven't you?"

Puck looked up from the cereal box at the women at the table. He knew there was going to be a catfight. There had been too much built up tension between the two. He was not looking forward to it. Quinn raised an eyebrow, wanting to tell the woman to shut her mouth but knowing that was out of the question. "I'm pregnant."

Linda rolled her eyes. "You don't have to remind _me_. But I've been pregnant twice and I've never had such a rapid weight gain… especially not in my arms. Those always stayed slender for me."

Quinn wanted to slap her. Linda must know that she was self-conscious in her condition and that comment had been completely unnecessary. It had to have come at the worst time as well, as Quinn had woken up feeling fat already. Knowing that she couldn't trust herself to remain under control, Quinn got up from the table and swiftly walked upstairs to the bedroom. She heard Puck say, "Ma, can you at least try to like her?" as she shut the door.

She laid on the bed and put her hands over her stomach as a few tears released from her eyes. Quinn wondered if she would ever be able to get the weight off. Maybe she would become one of those girls who kept saying she had baby weight ten years after the baby had been born. Quinn sat up and looked at her arms. She squeezed the fat on her upper arms and cursed herself. Linda had been right. She was gaining weight like crazy. Maybe she shouldn't be eating the way she was. Quinn had thought she was doing the right thing and eating healthy for her baby… but maybe she was eating _too _much. While Quinn squeezed her arm again to look for excess fat and let another tear slip from her eye, Puck walked inside the bedroom.

He rolled his eyes when he saw what Quinn was doing. "Don't be an idiot."

Quinn immediately dropped her hand and sniffled. "Your mom's right. I'm getting too big."

Puck shook his head and walked closer towards her. He sat on the bed in front of her. "You're fucking perfect," He told her, knowing that this was the moment he had been searching for. "Don't listen to her. She's angry all the time and she's taking it out on you."

Quinn shook her head. "You're just trying to make me feel better about myself… which is sweet, but maybe I _should_ start eating less."

Puck couldn't believe that Quinn Fabray was so weak at this moment. She always seemed so confident before, and so self-assured. He suddenly felt immense guilt. She was so vulnerable because he had screwed up and forced her into this situation.

"I'm sorry," He whispered, "I'm sorry I got you pregnant. I'm an idiot… but I'm not a liar. You're beautiful, and you're not fat. Hell, most of the time I forget you're even pregnant when I'm looking at you."

Quinn bit her lip. He was being sweet, and she wanted to believe all that he was saying but she wasn't sure she could. Puck had proved to her many times before that he couldn't be trusted. "How do I know you're not lying?"

Puck smirked a devilish smile. "If you doubt it then let me kiss you. Cause I don't kiss fat chicks but say the word and I'll have my tongue down your throat in three seconds flat."

Quinn rolled her eyes but couldn't help cracking a smile. "You're vulgar," She replied, "But thank you. You can be sweet when you want to be. And thank you for the apology… even if it was late."

Puck nodded his head. He knew not to push his luck and kiss her like he had said, even though he wanted it so much. It had been weeks since he had even kissed a girl. You couldn't blame the guy for being a tad horny.

However, Puck felt that maybe things would be a little more comfortable between Quinn and himself now. On the ride to school they actually talked. Granted, it was about Glee Club, which was a safe topic, but it was much better than the silence that had been there the past few days.

When they parked in the lot at school and got out Puck walked over to Quinn to hold her hand. It had become customary for them and neither thought anything of it. They walked into the school and Puck took Quinn to her locker. The looks and whispers weren't as bad from gossipmongers when Puck was with her. She had noticed that from the beginning.

Quinn let go of his hand to move the dial to her three numbered combination. Before opening the locker, she leaned back on it and looked up at Puck. "Should I sell my car?"

Puck shrugged his shoulders. He had heard Quinn mention the subject a week ago. To be honest, he thought that if Quinn was willing to sell the car then she was letting her dependency on him become more of a permanent fixture. Puck didn't think it was a bad thing. He actually kind of dug the idea. It either meant that Quinn was seriously considering keeping the baby, which he was still all for even though he had no control over the matter, or she was planning on staying with him after the baby was born. "What are you thinking about it?"

Quinn combed her fingers through her hair as she replied with what had been going through her head for a while now. "Well… my parents haven't talked to me since they kicked me out, and my sister won't return any of my phone calls. I don't really have a family right now and obviously I don't consider Linda a mother figure but your house is the only thing I have right now. It's sad but you're kind of all I have. Well, you and Glee Club. So, I still want to give the baby up – it's for the best, but after that I'll still need somewhere to live. If I stay with you at your house then by selling the car I'd have some money to pitch in to ease things up on your mom, or I would have enough money to move out and have enough time to get settled in somewhere and buy a used car."

Puck nodded his head. "Whatever you want to do. You should probably decide soon though, all it's doing right now is sitting on the side of the street."

Quinn turned around and opened her locker, turning her back to Puck. He wondered if she was mad at him. He didn't like her pregnancy hormones. They seemed to be making her bipolar. One minute she was totally into him, and the next it was as if she hated being in the same room. Puck managed to mutter, "Did I do something wrong?"

Quinn still didn't turn around. She was fumbling around with books in her locker. "Am I allowed to stay if there's no baby?"

Puck didn't know if he had heard right. Not that he didn't want Quinn to continue to live with him because he did, and he thought it was cool that she seemed to want to as well. Also, he figured that if they lived together permanently it wouldn't be long before she was willing to have sex. Of course, this time a condom would be included in the mix. He was only going to make that mistake once. No, the reason that Puck was hesitant to answer was because he didn't know _why_ Quinn would want to continue living at his house. Obviously he knew that she was happy about the apology and compliment he had paid her earlier that morning, but he didn't think that was enough to make up for his mother. The girls couldn't be in the same room as each other without dirty looks or snappy comments being thrown around.

"You're allowed." He was going to add on _Why would you want to_ but he knew that would just make her cry, or throw a fit.

Quinn turned back around to face Puck. "Your mom would allow it? Because it would only be two years, and if I sell the car I'll have money. I can pay for my own food, and laundry detergent, all that crap. I just need a roof and a bed."

Puck nodded. "She just hates you because she's disappointed in me, but it's easier to say that you're the screw up. She won't throw you out on the streets."

"Then I'll have to look into selling the car," Quinn announced, "You know more about cars than I do though. I just knew mine cost my dad a lot of money and it was red. Do you think you could take care of it?"

Puck nodded immediately. He wasn't allowed to help with anything. She didn't let him finish his sentenced when he started giving her pregnancy advice. She changed the subject when he started talking about their daughter or if she had started looking at adoptive parents. She didn't let him in the washroom when she was puking so he could hold her hair up. He couldn't buy her anything pregnancy related. She was doing everything on her own, as she had told him. The fact that she was asking for his help with something, even though it wasn't baby related, was a big thing. He wanted to help more than anything.

"Kurt's dad owns a car shop. I could ask him if tomorrow his dad could talk to me. He probably knows a few guys or a used car salesman who'd buy it from you."

Quinn smiled. Having one thing off of her massive list of things to do was a major relief. "Perfect," She replied, "I have a doctor's appointment anyways. Maybe you could drop me off and then go over?"

That stung. Puck knew that she didn't want him to have anything to do with the baby, but he that been thinking, and hoping, that maybe she was going to allow him to accompany her to the next doctor's visit. Shit, he had only ever seen a picture of his daughter once, and it was only a glance. He had been flipping through a binder Quinn had on the bed as she read from a textbook and he found an ultrasound picture between one of the pages. He had taken it out to look at it before it was quickly snatched out of his hands. She didn't offer him a reason for not allowing him to see his own daughter. She just grabbed it and put it inside of her textbook. It was crap, and it was unfair. Puck knew that Finn had gotten multiple pictures, as well as a video. However, Puck knew that he couldn't argue with Quinn. All it would do was upset her. He knew that what he had to do, to have any chance of even being in the delivery room when the baby was being born, was to let Quinn do her own thing and be a stand up guy. She would notice his change in behavior and then, that's when she would allow him to have a more predominant role in the whole baby thing. He had to prove himself first. Selling the car could do that.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan."

Puck seeked Kurt out at lunch to set his plan in motion. He found him sitting at a table with Mercedes, both in Cheerio's uniforms, Artie, and… what was her name? She was Asian, dressed like a goth, and dated Artie… it was hard for Puck to remember names of girls he hadn't hooked up with. Well anyways, he sat down at the table without being invited and turned to Kurt. "Get me ten minutes with your dad tomorrow after school."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry but when did we start talking?"

Puck brushed off his comment. "I need to sell Quinn's car to make some cash for us," He said _us _because it seemed more legitimate, all the while hoping that one day they actually would be an us. "Your dad owns a car place right? I just need ten, fifteen minutes to see if there's anyone he knows who'd want to buy it."

Kurt seemed to be contemplating it. Artie spoke up. "It's for Quinn, not him Kurt. You should do it."

Kurt nodded. "Fine. I'll tell him about it and give you a time tomorrow. In exchange I want you to throw Jacob Ben Israel in a dumpster."

Puck raised an eyebrow. It wouldn't be the first time he had done it but he wasn't sure the reasoning behind the request. "Why?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes, as if she had already heard the story fifty times. "Because he wrote a scathing review of one of the Cheerio's routines I was heavily featured in on his blog. It was crap and coming from a guy who doesn't even know what a pirouette is… well he shouldn't be judging _any_ type of routine."

Puck agreed to the terms so that he could leave. A kid in a dumpster wasn't a hard thing to make happen. If only all favours could be repaid so easily. Sure, he hadn't been throwing anyone in there for a long time, he didn't really feel like it anymore after being on the receiving end of a slushee attack, but it wasn't so hard to go back into old habits.

The next day Kurt came up to Puck telling him that his dad would be available to talk to him at four o clock. Puck thanked Kurt and told him that he had lived up to his end of the deal as well and Jacob smelled like week old lasagna at the moment. Puck was happy with himself. He would figure out a way to sell Quinn's car for a good lump of cash and she'd be thrilled with him.

Quinn had been contemplating whether to ask Puck to come to the doctors with her. She thought he kind of deserved being there, she had brought Finn along previously, but she didn't want to go back on that promise she had made to herself. The promise that she was going to be going through the pregnancy on her own. She realized that she didn't want Puck to come in the end, not because she wanted to be alone, but because she thought it was too big of a step to take. Quinn knew that Puck wanted to keep their daughter more than anything else, and if he were to become anymore involved with the baby then he would be far too attached. Quinn was positive that she was giving the baby up… well almost positive. In any case, Puck couldn't become too fixated on the idea of them being a family. He couldn't come to the doctor's appointment. He just couldn't.

Quinn tried to make her way through the day quickly, so she wouldn't have time to keep going over the same subject. It wasn't that hard to do. She had a lot of work piling up in her classes and she spent most of her energy on getting it done and being back on track with the rest of the class.

At lunch Quinn went into the cafeteria to buy her lunch. Linda had been in the kitchen the whole morning and Quinn didn't feel like going in to make a lunch if it meant she had to risk talking to Puck's mom. They were still on bad terms since yesterday and the 'fat' comment.

Quinn paid for her lunch and looked around the cafeteria, hoping to see Santana or Tina, or anyone from Glee Club that she could sit with. Something was playing out by the salad bar that caught Quinn's eye. Mercedes, in the Cheerio's track uniform, was talking to Santana and Brittany. Quinn couldn't make out what they were saying word for word, but she could piece some things together. She knew that Mercedes was asking for advice on how to lose weight. Quinn then saw Santana and Brittany hold up travel cups. Quinn wanted to gag. She knew it was the Sue Sylvester Master Cleanse, one of the few reasons she was actually happy to be off the Cheerios. The mixture of water, maple syrup, cayan pepper, lemon, and a bunch of other ingredients, such as a vomiting agent, had made her go crazy. Sure, it was a sure fire way to lose ten pounds, but it had been torturous.

"That can't be healthy." Quinn heard Mercedes say a tad louder than the conversation had originally been. She smiled, glad that Mercedes wasn't going to fall into the habit of self-hating that so many other Cheerios had, including herself.

"Who cares?" Quinn heard Santana scream. "You can either feel terrible and look great, or get kicked off the team when that reporter gets here."

No, Quinn thought, she couldn't let Mercedes go through this. The girl had always been so confident and so strong. This was not the way she should be living her life. Hating her body and starving herself was for lesser people. She saw the newest Cheerio member leaving her tray at the salad bar, which had been a healthy lunch, and walk off. Quinn glanced at Santana and Brittany happily drinking their disgusting drink. This was not right. Quinn needed to find a moment to talk to Mercedes. However, they weren't good friends and she didn't know if Mercedes would take her friendly advice so well. Quinn decided that she would wait for the right time to talk to Mercedes and tell her that the Cheerios wasn't worth giving up all of her self-worth and dignity.

Later that day, after Glee Club, in which Kurt had sang a sappy song that seemed directed towards Finn (Puck had thought that his former best friend had switched teams), Puck drove Quinn to her doctor's office. They had driven Quinn's car to school so that Puck would be able to show Mr. Hummel it. During the ride, they talked mostly about the car situation, discussing how much a reasonable offer would be, how much Quinn's father had originally paid for it, and things of that nature. Puck, though he knew going to into the office was out of the question, still wanted to be in the loop with things.

"What is this whole doctor's appointment about anyways? "

Quinn looked outside the window at the nothingness that was Lima, Ohio. "Just a routine check up to make sure everything is alright. Nothing major or anything to worry about."

Puck nodded his head while keeping his eyes on the road. He was skeptical if he should ask the question that was roaming around in his head. He wanted to know how Quinn was going to pay for the visit as he remembered her getting freaked out about doctor's bills back when Finn was the alleged baby daddy. However, he didn't know if he should come right out and ask as Quinn may have been expecting him to step up and pay for some of the bills. No, Puck told himself. He couldn't sweep things under the rug. If they were having a baby together, and living together, then they needed to be open and honest with each other. It shouldn't be that hard. They were getting along better than they ever were before.

"How are we going to pay for this all?" He made sure to use the word _we_ so that Quinn knew he wasn't expecting everything to fall onto her lap.

She turned her head from the window to Puck. To tell the truth, Quinn hadn't quite figured that one out yet. She had wanted to apply for some sort of social aid to help with bills, but she wasn't sure if she could do that anymore since she was living at the Puckermans. She would have to look into that. She also knew that Puck and his mom didn't have a lot of cash to spare. So while she felt they should be picking up some responsibility, she didn't want to place such a toll on them when they weren't living comfortably already.

"We can use some of the money we'll get for the car," She replied, knowing it was a safe answer. "We should probably both start looking for jobs as well. I don't want to spend _all_ of the money I'm going to get from it."

Puck nodded. He knew that he already should be working and earning a paycheck to help out with everything, but it wasn't like everyone was begging to hire a kid from the wrong tracks in a small town that was already turning quality applicants away. Still, he would have to look. Or start selling some of his shit. He also could start making some more pot brownies. That would be a good way to make a buck or two.

"I'll get some money to help out. I'll ask my mom as well how much she can help us with."

Quinn smirked. "Oh how she'll love me."

Puck laughed. "Well too bad. She's stuck dealing with it. It was my mistake too."

Quinn nodded, agreeing, but also feeling that since it was _his_ mistake and not his mother's, that maybe _Puck_ should be the one giving the majority of the money. Taking money from his struggling, single mom didn't sit right with Quinn.

"You know," Puck offered, "I heard that if you decide on an adoptive family early on that they can help with this. They pay for the hospital bills, vitamins, clothes, all of that crap."

Quinn shook her head and was frozen. Though she still wanted to give the baby up, she wasn't one hundred percent sure and it seemed too soon to start thinking of parents to hand their child off too. It would make everything too official. As time had passed during the pregnancy, Quinn felt herself becoming more motherly and nurturing. She was protective over the baby. She wasn't sure she would be able to find anyone good enough to have her.

"I'm not ready for that right now." She whispered it, not wanting Puck to see her vulnerable.

He nodded. He disagreed with her, but he didn't want to push Quinn away. Puck thought that it would be better to know ahead of time who the baby was going to. It would put his mind at ease. However, it seemed like Quinn was going through some internal debates and he wasn't going to be a jerk and pressure her to do something. He had told her long ago that the decisions were up to her. She was the one pregnant. She deserved to do what she wanted.

Puck parked in front of the office and Quinn opened the door to get out. "Call me if you need me or when you want picked up." She told him that she would. He watched her get inside the doors before driving off to the car shop to meet with Kurt's dad.

He figured he could get a good deal out of Quinn's car. It was a 2009 Jaguar, brand new, purchased only about five months ago, with almost no mileage on it. Quinn had told Puck that her father had spent $50,000 on it, which he thought was wildly expensive for some girl who wouldn't know the difference between it and a Ford Focus. Puck thought that he could get at least $30,000 for it. Cars lose half their value as soon as they're off the lot, but since it was in such good quality, barely driven, and Puck had a sob story to attach to it, he figured that he could raise the price up a bit.

Puck pulled into the parking lot beside Hummel's Garage and got out of the car. He went inside to see Kurt's dad working on a car. He looked up at him.

"You're Puck?" He asked.

Puck nodded. He had tried to wear something appropriate today so he wouldn't look like a good for nothing Puck. He had worn a black button down shirt and pair of dark wash jeans.

Mr. Hummel gave Puck a nod. ""I'm Burt," He said. "Where's the car?"

Puck tried not to roll his eyes at the ridiculous rhyming names of Kurt and Burt. When Finn and Quinn were dating, Puck had routinely given his best friend slack for being one of those annoying couples with stupid names. Puck pointed behind himself. "I parked it in the lot."

Mr. Hummel suggested they go take a look at it now. Puck led the way and they walked in silence. Puck stopped in front of the car. "This is it."

Burt whistled. "Well it's a good one. Kurt had made it out like I would be looking at a clunker. I could definitely get one of my buddies to take this off your hands."

Puck smiled. That was a good sign. The two went through the details of the car. The make, the mileage, how much it was originally paid for, etc. After talking logistics, Burt put his thumb on his chin and contemplated how much he sell the car for. "I could probably get this one friend of mine to buy it for around twenty-four, twenty-five thousand dollars."

That wasn't what Puck wanted to hear. He knew that he wasn't going to get retail value on the car, but he couldn't settle for half price. He needed to get a good amount for the car. It was his only shot of impressing Quinn. Maybe then she would realize that he wasn't as bad as she made it out in her head.

"No," Puck replied, "It's just… I can't do that. I need more."

Puck put his hands in his pockets. He was trying to sound confident, so Burt would know that he couldn't screw with him, but he was still only a sixteen-year-old kid who was way over his head.

Burt looked at him with compassion in his eyes. "Kurt told me a little about your situation. Your girlfriend's pregnant?"

Puck nodded his head. He took this as a sign to lay into him with the sob story. "Yeah, and her parents kicked her out of the house when they found out. She's living with me right now, but my mom's a single mother and we're struggling right now to make ends meet. We really need the money for when the baby's born."

Burt walked over to put a hand on Puck's shoulder. "I know things must be tough. I'll see if I can get more. People will probably be kinder if I tell them the full story. You should know though, I won't be able to get much more than thirty thousand."

"Thank you," Puck told him, sincerely thankful. "That'll help out a lot."

At that moment Puck's cell phone rang. His caller ID said it was Quinn. "Hey."

"Hi. Can you pick me up now?"

"I'll be right there."

Puck hung up and told Burt he needed to go to pick up Quinn from the doctors.

Burt took some pictures of the car with his cell phone camera, exchanged phone numbers with Puck, and let him go on his way. "I'll call you in a couple days with an offer probably." Puck thanked Burt one last time and got into Quinn's car to drive back to the doctor's office.

Quinn's visit had been mostly uneventful. It was a morphology scan, she hadn't told Puck that because she feared he would get worried and insist on coming. The visit was just to determine whether the baby was developing on track, and to make sure the amniotic fluid was in good condition. Of course, things were fine and Quinn's daughter was in a great state. All was good. Quinn had been offered a 3D ultrasound but it cost more and she knew that she shouldn't be spending any more money than was required. She however received new 2D ultrasound pictures to take home. Quinn hid them in her purse, and decided she would decide whether or not to show Puck later on. She should, she knew that. But she feared that his attachment to the baby would increase ten fold. Yet, he had been the one that suggested she start looking for adoptive parents. If he was comfortable suggesting such a big step, maybe he would be okay with looking at the pictures. Maybe it would give them some comfort. Quinn's mind was in a very confused state. She was also reminded that she had to talk with Mercedes. She didn't know quite what she would say, but she knew that she needed to. _Tomorrow_, she told herself. She would have to go right up to the girl and just tell her not to listen to Sue. Eating healthy – not starving yourself, was the proper way of going about things. Screw waiting for the right moment. That was stupid. Quinn decided she would tell Mercedes after Glee Practice. Quinn had a discussion with her doctor early on in the appointment, asking if she was heavier than a normal pregnant woman. Her doctor had looked at her like she was asking if it was possible she was giving birth to a pig.

"You're thinner than most of the girls that walk in here Quinn."

Quinn smiled at the comment, but wondered if the doctor was just telling her that so she would feel better about herself. There was nothing more dangerous than a suicidal pregnant teenager.

"Why don't you tell me about your diet?" The doctor offered, and Quinn obliged. After going through what she usually ate in the day, her doctor smiled and told her that she was completely healthy. "Don't be ashamed of yourself," Quinn was told. "You're doing something amazing. You're taking care of your baby. Be proud of that, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

The conversation had helped Quinn be comforted. She had always known that what Linda had said to her was crap, but it was nice to hear from someone with more authority that she was doing the right thing.

Quinn, waiting inside by the front door, saw her car pull up and she went inside to get in. Puck smiled at her. "Everything go alright?"

Quinn nodded her head. "Baby is fine. I'm healthy. All is well in the world. How'd the car selling go?"

"Good. Burt said he has a friend he can probably sell it to for thirty grand. He's going to call me in a couple days when he knows more."

Quinn smiled and Puck was glad. He had made her happy. He had done something right finally. "Good," She replied. "That'll get me by for a while. The doctor's visit today will probably cost around $500. I owe Finn and his mom about $900. After the baby is gone I'll probably have about $19,000 left. On the internet it said that it usually costs around 10,000 to pay for everything without insurance."

"Why don't you get insurance? Couldn't you go on some type of welfare insurance or something?"

Quinn nodded. "I've looked it up and there's the Ohio welfare health insurance. I just hate the sound of being on welfare… but if it can save me a bit of money then I guess I'll have consider doing it."

They then both sat in silence as Puck drove the rest of the way home. They both felt overwhelmed. They were two sixteen-year-old kids in way over their heads. Puck pulled to the side of the street by his house to park the car. They got out and as they walked up to the front door Puck told Quinn, "I'll pay back what you owe Finn. And I'll get you more."

Quinn smiled. Having at least around $1000 off of her back was a relief. It also was only fair. If she had to pay for all of this, well Puck should be pitching in as well.

Quinn went inside and Puck told her he was going up to his room to play his guitar. She knew that she would never be able to pay attention to the mass amounts of homework she had to do, so she decided to go to the living room to work. Usually Quinn didn't like spending much time downstairs, just for meals, but sometimes she didn't have other valid options. She sat down on the couch and took out her math textbook. While working on the quadratic formula, Linda came home from work. She came inside and saw Quinn. She ignored her, and made her way to the kitchen to make dinner.

Quinn rolled her eyes, and continued on with her history homework. She was almost finished. Just five more questions and she would be able to relax for the rest of the evening. When Quinn only had three questions left Linda came in the room.

"Would you prefer pasta or chicken tonight?"

Quinn looked at Puck's mom at disbelief. Did she actually ask her a question that wasn't a backhanded compliment or mean in anyway? Quinn answered fast as to not push her luck. "Chicken please."

Linda nodded and looked down at Quinn's stomach. However, this time there was no shame or disgust in her eyes. "How'd the doctor's appointment go?"

This was weird. Quinn wasn't sure what to think about it all so she just gave Linda a slight smile and answered, "It was good. She's healthy."

"You got pictures, right?"

"What?" Though Quinn obviously knew that the woman had been pregnant twice and thus had been through the same process she was currently, she didn't expect her to remember all of the details. Or really it was more that Quinn never expected Linda to want to see any pictures or make any mention that the baby was actually real and not just an unpleasant nightmare.

"They must have given you more pictures. Can I see them?"

Quinn nodded, not knowing what else to do. If Linda was trying to be civil, then it was the least Quinn to do to return the favor. She took the pictures out of her purse and handed them to Linda when she walked over. Linda took them and her face softened when she looked at them. She wasn't the harsh, evil woman anymore, but instead just a woman who was going to be a grandmother shortly.

"She looks like she'll be a cute one. Has Noah seen these?" She asked warmly, without an air of superiority that usually seemed to follow Linda around.

Quinn shook her head and realized that now she would have to show them to Puck immediately. "Not yet. I was just about to."

Linda handed them back and went into the kitchen. Quinn sighed and got off the couch. She made her way up the stairs and went into the bedroom where Puck was on the bed playing some song or another on the guitar. He stopped when Quinn entered the room and looked at her, expecting her to start yelling and ruin the good thing they had going. It wasn't natural for them to get along for this long. However, she just tossed some pictures on the bed and sat on the chair by the desk. He picked them up and couldn't take his eyes off of the first one. It was the baby. Their baby. Their daughter. Everything seemed so real. Quinn wasn't snatching the pictures back. She wanted him to see them. He could make out a tiny little body in the photo. It was surreal. Puck looked up at Quinn.

"Cool." He wanted to say something more, but he didn't know what. Anything that he would say would end up coming out really lame and stupid. Plus, he was still in awe. This was the first time he was seeing his daughter.

Quinn however didn't take to kindly to the word choice. She figured that Puck didn't care much. It was inconsiderate, when taken into account how much thought she had put into the decision to show him. Also, another worrying thought was that she had been wrong all along. What if Puck wasn't in danger of getting too attached to the baby? What if he didn't care all too much? What if he was only being here to prove he wasn't a deadbeat, or because he felt obligated. Quinn sighed.

"Yeah so you can keep them if you want. I have others."

Puck nodded and Quinn walked back downstairs. Whatever. If he didn't care then it was fine. It would just be that much easier to give the kid up once she was born. On the other side of the door, Puck was still ogling at the photos. He was so happy that Quinn shared them with him. However, he knew that it was just making him want to keep the kid more. Oh well, he always knew that it would hurt to give her up. At least now he could prepare himself for the pain. He still thought that in the end it was Quinn's decision for what they should do with the baby.

Dinner came and went. Linda was more pleasant than usual. When Quinn and Puck were in bed, with their backs to each other as usual, Quinn asked, "Why is your mom being so nice to me?"

Puck whispered. "She's been seeing some guy for a while now. Probably something to do with that."

Quinn closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. Obviously Linda hadn't had some life changing epiphany that she should be kinder, or thought that Quinn deserved an ounce of respect. She was simply in the bliss of a new relationship.

The next day at school was not what Quinn had expected. Everything had been going just fine. Linda had been pleasant again, math class was actually easy to understand, and no one was even whispering about her. Actually, no one was even looking at her. It kind of felt like she was invisible, but Quinn didn't have much time to think about it once lunch strolled around.

She had been studying in the library when Tina ran in to fetch Kurt who was sitting at the table next to her. Tina was frantic and talking a million words a minute to Kurt. All Quinn could pick out was Mercedes, starving herself, fainted. Quinn panicked. She was supposed to have had a talk with her! Now it was too late. Kurt and Tina left the library in a hurry and Quinn packed her things up to leave as well. Maybe she had been late to tell Mercedes what she had been doing was unhealthy, but she was going to make sure that she would never to do it again. Plus, Quinn didn't even know if Mercedes was all right. She was genuinely worried for her, which was strange because Quinn couldn't remember if they had even had a real conversation before.

She darted out of the library and down to the nurse's office. Once she reached it Quinn saw that Artie, Tina, and Kurt were already waiting outside.

"What are you doing here?" Artie asked, not angrily, but more like a pleasantry. The two had always been semi-friendly to each other since they were picked as duets partners for the ballads. Quinn had explained to Artie that she was too preoccupied to practice and he had understood fully, telling her that he hoped her life would become easier soon. He had then helped organize the Lean on Me routine, which Quinn had loved. In short, Quinn now always had a soft spot for the boy, and vice versa.

"I want to talk to Mercedes. I've been in her position before and I'm worried" Quinn tried to seem cheery but concerned. Even though Artie and her were sort of friends, Tina and Kurt didn't always seem too enthused with her. It was best to start making good impressions.

Kurt shook his head. "They won't let anyone see her. Believe me, I tried to fake a migraine and they wouldn't let me in."

Quinn smiled. "Well I have an excuse that people usually accept without questions." She motioned down to her baby bump and Kurt nodded in defeat.

Quinn walked into the nurse's office and saw her measuring Mercedes's blood pressure. _At least she's conscious _Quinn thought to herself. The nurse looked over when she heard the door close.

"You can't be in here."

Quinn pointed to her stomach, as she had done outside. "I have some concerns. I was hoping I could talk to you once you're done. I can wait."

The nurse sighed, but relented and allowed Quinn to stay. Mercedes was avoiding looking at her. Quinn thought it might have something to do with shame. She remembered how embarrassed she had been in similar circumstances. Quinn tried not to make herself too obvious as she listened in to what the nurse was saying to Mercedes.

"Oh. Your blood pressure's low." She said after conducting the test. "Maybe that's why you fainted. Your mom will be here soon. I'll go get you some ginger ale."

The nurse walked away and Quinn took it as her cue to talk to Mercedes. Before she stood up, she took something out of her bag that she had been planning on snacking on. However, she was always prepared with extra snacks in her locker so she didn't need to worry about being hungry later on.

Quinn walked over to Mercedes and held out the granola bar for her to take. Mercedes looked at it and quickly looked away. "Thanks. I'm not hungry."

Quinn remembered feeling that way. Everything was coming back to her. She hadn't been off the Cheerio's for _that_ long. "Yes you are. You're starving. I know. I've been there."

Mercedes looked away again. Quinn was worried that she was being too forward so she tried to lighten the conversation up with humor and a smirk. "Did all the other kids start looking like food right before you fainted?"

That perked Mercedes up. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Been there," Quinn said and then held the food up again. "Eat the granola bar."

Mercedes took it hesitantly. She slowly asked, "Why are you being so nice to me? I can't remember the last time you said two words to me that weren't you and

suck."

Her comment stung a little. Quinn wasn't necessarily proud of being so mean and ruthless to people. It had to have been done of course to keep her at the top of the social order, but she hadn't relished in it. Well, she had when it came to some people, like Rachel, but not with everyone. However, Quinn knew how to answer Mercedes's question. It was an easy one.

"Cause I was you. Scared. Hating myself for eating a cookie. But I got over it."

"Yeah well of course you did Miss Pretty Blonde with the White Girl Ass." Mercedes quickly retorted.

Okay, that comment didn't sting. It pissed Quinn off. Did Mercedes not remember anything that she had been going through? Quinn decided to quickly rectify that issue. Sure, it meant she had to open up to someone she normally wouldn't open to, and Quinn didn't relish in that, but she knew she had to say it. It was hard, as she had never talked about these sorts of things with anyone before. "When you start eating for someone else, so that they can grow and be healthy, your relationship to food changes. What I realized was that if I'm so willing to eat right to take care of this baby… why am I not willing to do it for myself?"

Quinn noticed that Mercedes was now crying and though she didn't have much experience with comforting people (she had used to snicker when Santana was upset) she tried her best. Quinn leaned in closer to Mercedes and told her earnestly, "You are _so _lucky. You've always been at home in your body. Don't let Ms. Sylvester take that away from you."

Mercedes looked down to the floor in shame. "I'm so embarrassed," When she looked up Quinn could see the fear in her eyes. "This isn't me. How did I become this person?"

Quinn smiled at her sincerely. "You are beautiful. You know that."

Mercedes looked at Quinn, thankful that someone who had been in her position was reaching out to her and being so nice. Quinn gave her another smile and said, "I'm going to stay here with you until your mom comes, okay?"

Until Mrs. Jones came the two girls sat with Quinn comforting Mercedes some more and Mercedes explaining all her doubts and insecurities. Quinn though upset about how low Ms. Sylvester had made Mercedes feel, was also sort of happy because it seemed like she had obtained a new friend. Or at least someone she could be friendly with.

That night Mr. Schuester had invited all the kids to some roller rink that they would probably be using for rehearsal space while the Cheerio's were using the auditorium. Quinn hadn't been so enthused. Being around Finn was always hard. Rachel and Santana always pissed her off. Things with Puck were awkward, after his lack of enthusiasm when she had showed him the baby pictures. Still, he seemed really amped to go and if Puck was attending Quinn had to as well, to keep up the appearance that they were dating.

When they got there they had to get the roller skates. Quinn asked for a size eight, and went to the bench to put them on. However, it turned out that bending down that far wasn't the easiest thing to do. Quinn tried another time but it was useless. It wasn't going to happen. Puck had finished lacing his up beside her and she nudged him.

"Can you put mine on for me?"

Puck raised an eyebrow, about to make a snide comment, but remembered he was in the dog's house again for God knows what so instead he simply nodded and got down on his knees. He started lacing on of the boots when Quinn pushed her face down into her hands and sighed. "I'm such a mess." She sniffled out.

Puck knew what she meant. He figured it must be pretty hard to go from being the hottest girl in the school to becoming a pregnant chick who lost everything. He was glad it was girls that were the ones that become pregnant, as he would never want to go through losing his abs or anything like that. Still, it sucked for Quinn and he wanted to make her feel better. He bet his dad had never done that for his mom and as he had vowed a million times before: He was _nothing_ like his father.

"Stop it. You're the hottest girl in the room."

Quinn took her hands off of her face and looked down at Puck. He was still tying her laces, but then looked up and smiled at her. She smiled back. It was sweet of him to say, especially when she was in a room with Santana, who she had been sure he thought was way hotter. She figured he was lying so she wiped a single tear from her eye and said, "You're just saying that."

Puck shook his head and looked back up at her so she could see the truth in his eyes. "Listen, a while ago I was in the living room and my mom turned on the TV. She was watching one of those crappy shows where they talk about celebrities and I really wanted her to shut it off but then they showed a picture of Jessica Alba. She was pregnant and she looked like the most freaking beautiful girl in the world. I was having a good time staring at her but then I was a little bummed because I realized that if I ever decided to give up the playboy life and have a kid I'd be disappointed. My wife or girlfriend or whatever would never be able to look that hot. I was wrong though, mine is a million times hotter."

Quinn giggled and could feel her cheeks warming. Was she blushing? Okay he was being sweet and cute but she couldn't get attached to him being like this. Sooner or later he would go back to being a man whore or an asshole. He'd get bored eventually. Still, at the moment this was nice, and Quinn needed to get her mind off of everything that was going on. So she quietly thanked Puck for saying that and rollerbladed with him. They goofed off and had a ton of fun. Quinn was grateful that she made herself come.

The next day was the big assembly. Some hotshot journalist was coming to write an article about the Cheerio's and everyone was forced out of class to be in attendance. Puck had skipped class but was caught in the halls so he was forced to sit without a seat in the front beside Finn. Puck was over the situation and figured that Finn had to be as well. After all, it had been over a month. Still, he was smart enough not to look at Finn or attempt to talk to him. Quinn was sitting a couple seats ahead of him he noticed. He wondered what asshole didn't give up their seat on the bleachers so she could be comfortable.

Quinn was a half annoyed and half excited to be at the rally. On the one hand she hated not being in Cheerio's and watching their performances was like a slap in the face. On the other hand, they were always entertaining and Quinn couldn't help but smile during them. She hoped that Mercedes was doing better today. She had texted her earlier in the morning but had only gotten a one word reply.

The Cheerio's came out and stood with their backs to the audience. The lights dimmed. The performance should be starting now. Quinn wondered what was going on. Ms. Sylvester made it a priority that for the team to have impeccable timing. She wouldn't let something like this happen. Quinn scanned the group in front of her. Then she noticed. It was Mercedes. She was missing from the group. Quinn panicked but was relaxed when she saw the girl make her way to the middle of the stage. However she knew that Mercedes would get a talking to from the hot headed cheerleading coach after the assembly was done.

Mercedes walked up to the microphone. "Hey guys," She said nervously. "I'm Mercedes Jones. So most of you know Cheerio's is about perfection and winning, looking hot and being popular… Well I think it should be about something different."

The room was silent. You could hear a pin drop. Quinn was impressed that Mercedes had so much courage to say such things to the entire school, and even braver to say such things in front of Coach Sylvester, especially when that journalist was around. She was so happy that her speech had broken through to Mercedes. She had done something right. Quinn felt accomplished, something she hadn't felt in a while.

Puck had no idea what was going on and didn't know if he wanted to. It seemed like this pep rally he had been trying to avoid was turning into a whole lot worse. He didn't want to see some after school special. Cheerio's _was _about looking hot and popular and he didn't know what this girl… what was her name? He was always so bad with names. Well he didn't want her messing with a good thing.

Mercedes bit her lip and took a breath before stretching her courage again. "How many of you at this school feel fat?"

Wow. Quinn couldn't believe that Mercedes was going _there_. She herself had always been so ashamed to talk about her insecurities. Being pregnant they had only intensified. Quinn knew that she wanted to stand by Mercedes, and the truth was that she did feel fat. She just didn't know if she wanted to admit to it. After a second Quinn realized that the kids in the school didn't even care about her anymore, or they were already making fun of her. Admitting that she wasn't perfect wouldn't make things any worse and frankly she didn't care any longer. Quinn held her head up high and raised her hand, being the first before a couple other kids joined in.

"How many of you feel like maybe you're not worth very much?"

More hands rose.

"That you're ugly? Or you have too many pimples and not enough friends?"

There were now more hands raised then there were hands that were not. Quinn knew that all those kids were lying. Everyone felt bad about himself or herself at some point. She had been the most popular girl in school once upon a time and she had even hated herself almost daily. The kids that had their hands down were cowards. She turned around to survey the scene. Puck did not have his hand raised. She knew for a fact, with his daddy issues and the pain she had inflicted of choosing Finn over him, that he was lying.

Puck didn't think he was lying. Sure there were times that he wasn't the biggest fan of himself but he always knew that he was the most bad ass and sexiest guy in the entire school. He wasn't going to raise his hand for this. It was garbage. The Cheerio's were supposed to dance, not try to create heartfelt moments. He noticed Quinn was raising her hand, and he wished she wasn't. The girl was so fucking perfect and she still felt bad about herself. He wanted to make her feel the opposite but he didn't have any idea how. All he knew was that she shouldn't be raising her hand.

Mercedes continued with her speech. "Well I've felt all those things about myself at one time or another. Hell I felt most of those things about myself today. And that just ain't right. And we've got something to say about it. And if you like what we have to say… come down here and sing it with us."

A spotlight shone on Mercedes as the music started. It was a familiar song to the students, mostly the girls. Quinn recognized it immediately and was so proud of Mercedes for what she was about to do. Mercedes started to sing.

_Everyday is so wonderful_

_ And suddenly,_

_ It's hard to breath_

_ Now and then I get insecure_

_ From all the pain,_

_ I'm so ashamed_

_ I am beautiful_

_ No matter what they say_

_ Words can't bring me down_

_ I am beautiful_

_ In every single way_

_ Yes, words can't bring me down_

_ (Oh nooo-)_

_ So don't you bring me down today_

The rest of the Cheerios, except Kurt who was not in on the plan, turned around to join in on the routine and start singing along.

_No matter what we do._

_ No matter what we say_

Some students were beginning to stand up. Quinn however, wanted to take things a step further. She was so proud of Mercedes for doing this and the lyrics of the song also resonated with her. Sure, she may be pregnant and an outcast, but she was still beautiful. No one was going to take that away from her. Maybe she felt bad about herself sometimes but in the end she knew that she was still the same girl underneath it all. She was the one that everyone envied. She had beauty beyond comparison. However Quinn was realizing that she also had something else she hadn't recognized before. She had inner beauty. Mercedes wouldn't have had the strength to do this if it hadn't been for their talk yesterday. Quinn stood up and kept her head held high as she walked up to Mercedes. She stared out at the crowd and didn't care one bit what they thought about her. She stood beside Mercedes and held on to her baby bump, professing to everyone watching that she wasn't ashamed of it.

Then something happened that Quinn hadn't expected. Santana and Brittany left the Cheerio's to stand beside both Quinn and Mercedes. They were putting themselves out there, something that would typically only harm their reputation. Quinn was impressed with both girls. Santana shot Quinn a warm smile and for a moment she remembered their friendship, before they entered high school and become competitive with each other.

_And everywhere we go_

_ The sun will always, always _

_ Shine_

Mike and Matt came up to the center of the stage to sing along. Tina and Artie did as well, along with Jesse and Rachel. There were just two members of the Glee Club who was still sitting. Not even standing as most everyone in the gym was doing. Finn was still sitting because he was always so insecure about his popularity. Quinn knew that. However she didn't know why Puck wasn't coming up. She figured he felt like too much of a badass to stand up and sing a Christina Aguilera song.

Puck was debating whether or not to stand up and join the rest of the Glee kids. He always knew that he was hot and tough but there were times that he thought that maybe he didn't mean anything to anyone. His father especially. So he got the message of the song but he still didn't want to go up there. It would make him look like a wuss. However, Puck noticed that Quinn was the first to get up and even though he didn't want to do this for himself, he figured that he should do it for her. So he reluctantly picked himself up off the floor and made his way to the center of the gym, and stood beside Matt and Brittany. While he was walking up he saw that Quinn was watching him and he flashed a quick smile at her so she would know this was for her. Finn followed along soon after, knowing that he couldn't be the only member of Glee Club not up there.

_Cause we are beautiful_

_ No matter what they say_

_Yes words won't bring us down_

_ (Oh nooo-)_

_ We are beautiful _

_ In every single way_

_ Yes words can't bring us down_

_ So don't you bring me down today_

_ Ohhh-_

_ Don't you bring me down today_

_ Hey- Yeah-_

_ Don't you bring me down _

_ Today_

The crowd erupted into applause. They were all standing and cheering as loudly as they could. Quinn felt so good about herself and couldn't stop beaming. She was also happy that Puck had joined them on stage. She was glad everyone had. Glee Club was a family, as cheesy as it sounded, and they needed to support Mercedes. Puck felt kind of pumped up after it was all over. He had probably looked like a sweet guy to the crowd without giving up his tough exterior, which was something he knew the ladies loved.

That afternoon Quinn and Puck were in the bedroom, Puck sitting on the floor trying to do his Spanish homework after Quinn had insisted, while she finished up math. She was sitting on the bed while he was resting against it. His cell phone started buzzing and he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Puck it's Burt. I'm just calling to say that one of my buddy's is willing to buy the car for $31,500. I explained your situation so he wanted to pay a little extra. You interested?"

Puck told him that he was and they arranged to meet up in a couple of days to hand over the car and receive the money. Puck made sure they would be paid in cash because he wasn't about to be made out to be a chump if the check bounced. Puck said goodbye and hung up the phone.

"Was that about the car?" Quinn asked.

Puck turned around and nodded, happy that now he would be able to make Quinn proud of him. He had done better than she had expected. "Yeah, Burt says he has a friend that will take it for $31,500."

Quinn smiled and clapped her hands. "That's great – more than I expected! Thank you so much for dealing with all of this Puck."

He nodded his head and told her it wasn't a big deal. Inside he was elated at how happy he was making her. He wanted to make it go on forever. "I'll get you more too. I've got some jobs lined up, cleaning rain gutters and shoveling snow. Things like that. I'll get enough so that I can pay Finn back."

Quinn smiled. "Thank you but if you don't mind I'd like to be the one that gives him the money. He's still so mad at me and I want to apologize again."

Puck agreed. It didn't matter to him one way or another. He wanted to say something else, something to keep the conversation going, but then he didn't have to. Quinn put her hand to her stomach and her face lit up. "Come here." She said quietly.

Puck raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Quickly!" She yelled in her harsh tone. Puck listened to her and sat beside Quinn on the bed. She took his hand and put it on her stomach. She kept it there for a few seconds before saying. "Do you feel that?"

He nodded and smiled at Quinn. "That's… her?"

Quinn nodded. Before she had been afraid for Puck to feel how big she was now but at this moment she didn't care. He had been making her feel good about herself lately and that meant a lot. He deserved to experience this big moment. Puck was wide-eyed and stunned. Feeling the baby kick, it just made things so much more real. Realer than they had already been. There was a person in there. They had made a person and she was growing. It was trippy.

That night Puck had made some calculations while Quinn was sleeping beside him. He knew that he would need to make $900 to pay Finn and his mom back and he had also promised to get Quinn more. He needed to make at least $1000 in a short amount of time. He figured that he would need to clean about 67 rain gutters to get enough money. He had two rain gutters lined up and three houses that were going to pay him to shovel snow. He would end up making about $70. That was not enough. He thought about selling his X-box and his games. That could probably get him $350, if he was lucky. He still wouldn't have half the money he needed. This was stupid. He was paying money that Quinn could have gotten already if she had bothered to look for an adoptive family or gone on welfare. He was a little pissed off to say the least. He wouldn't mind the struggles if they were keeping the baby, but when she was giving her up it didn't seem fair. Still, he had made the promise and needed to think of a fast way to make some cash. The idea that came to Puck was to make more pot brownies. He could probably sell them undercover so Quinn or any teachers would find out. That was his best bet. It would take a while though to get that money. Puck figured his best bet was to bum some money off of someone before he made enough to pay them back. Now all he needed was to figure out whom he knew that had cash to spare and would be willing to help him out.

He could only think of one person. So the next day at school, during lunch, Puck texted Santana to meet up with him in the choir room. He waited in there, sitting on a chair and hoped no one would see the two of them in there together. He didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea.

Santana sauntered in the room, made sure to shut the door, and sat beside Puck. She inched the chair in closer and put her hand high up on Puck's thigh. "Finally," She whispered seductively. "I've been waiting so long for you to get bored of your baby mama."

Puck shook his head and took her hand off of his thigh. It was hard to, as even though he was trying to be a good guy, he was still a dude and pushing hot, slutty chicks like Santana away was no easy task. "That's not why I asked you to come. I need a favour."

Santana was obviously upset by Puck's rejection. She crossed her arms, rolled her eyes, and sneered, "What do you want?"

"Money. I'll pay you back but I need to borrow some."

Santana bit her lip. "How much?"

"A grand."

Santana's eyes widened. She had stolen from her dad before, or taken money out of the bank account that she wasn't supposed to touch unless it was an emergency, but she had never taken such a large sum of money all at once. "Why do you need so much?"

"Quinn has to pay Finn back and I told her I would get the money. I swear I'll pay you back in a couple of months."

Santana weighed out her options and then smiled a devilish smirk. She had always had a hold on Puck but now since this baby thing he had let go of her for good. She figured out a plan that could make things go back to the way they used to be. She put her hand on Puck's shoulder and leaned in closer to his face. "I'll get you the money, and you can pay me back whenever you want... but you'll have to do something for me."

Puck knew where this was going. He turned his head away and shook his head. "No," He told her. "I want to, but I can't. I need to work things out with Quinn."

Santana rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You are becoming such a loser Puckerman. Seriously, ever since I de-virginized Finn he is becoming so much hotter and you… you're becoming so much notter."

Puck raised an eyebrow. "You slept with Finn?"

She nodded proudly. "Yeah I needed a younger guy to become head Cheerio. But let's get back to your money issues. I'll give it to you and you can wait five months if that's what it takes to pay me back, and all you have to do is hook up with me again whenever I want. It's win-win. You should really be thanking me for this offer."

Puck contemplated it. He _really_ needed the money and he knew it would take him months to get it the old fashioned way. Plus, Quinn was expecting money that she could be getting if she only just picked out a family to adopt the baby. It was a tough call. Quinn still wasn't putting out at all and it wouldn't even be cheating since they weren't dating. But no, he couldn't. It just wasn't right.

Santana stood up. "Fine, your loss." She walked away, but when she came to the door Puck called out, "Okay. I'll do it."

Santana turned around and smirked. "Meet me here tomorrow at lunch." She walked out of the room and Puck followed, ashamed of himself, but also a little psyched that he'd be getting some action. He knew it was wrong, but it would just be for a little while until he could pay Santana back. He just had to make sure that Quinn never found out.

That would prove harder than he imagined however as when he walked out of the choir room Quinn was walking past. She noticed him, turned back to see Santana walking the opposite direction and frowned. "I saw her come out of there too. What were you doing with her?" Quinn always had a sore spot with Puck and Santana since the sexting incident.

Puck walked closer to Quinn, put a hand on her shoulder, and shook his head. " Nothing. She just wanted to talk to me. Her and Finn slept together and now he's ignoring her. She wanted a guy's opinion or some crap."

Quinn raised an eyebrow and scrunched up her face. "Finn and Santana? That's gross."

"That's only because you still like him." Puck muttered before he could think of how stupid he would be to say such a thing. He saw the way Quinn longed over Finn during performances, and how happy she had seemed when she said she wanted to be the one to give him back the funny. He was never going to tell her he noticed but he hadn't thought before he spoke.

Quinn shook her head. "Stop it."

Puck nodded. "I'm sorry. Let's go eat."

Quinn smiled and took his hand as he led the way. They never spent much time together at school, so this was a rare occasion. While they ate Quinn thought something was a bit off with Puck, but she ignored it. Things were starting to look up for them, and she didn't want her insecurities or worries to ruin anything.

Puck felt so stupid. He felt like an asshole for what he was doing to Quinn. The sexting he was never sorry for because Quinn had been dating Finn at the time, but this was just bad. This was all his fault. He swore to himself that he would get the money quick. He'd figure a way to get the pot brownie plan on underway without Quinn noticing. He'd ask his mother for some money. He figured he might be able to get $100 off of her. Maybe he wouldn't have to sell his X-box. Things would figure themselves out. Quinn just had to never find out.

_ Author's Note (Please Read!)_

_I'm very sorry for the longer than usual wait. I was really busy this past week and a half and this chapter ended up being twice as long. Hopefully no one minds that too much :) There were just more moments from the show that I had to include and set up in this chapter._

_ I hope you all liked this chapter! The next one will be based off of Bad Reputation. _

_ If you have the time, I would very much appreciate it if you would review this chapter :) Writers love feedback! It could be a word, a sentence, or a paragraph! Just let me know how you like the story!_

_ Thank you very much to all that are reading, reviewing, favourting, and story alerting this story! You guys are awesome!_

_ I'll try to have the next chapter done quicker than this one took!_

_ Until next time,_

_ Happy Reading!_


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